


I Don't Care

by yutorin



Series: I Do/I Don't-verse [3]
Category: Hey! Say! JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Established Relationship, Flirting With Beards, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Originally Posted in 2015, Originally Posted on LiveJournal, Ramen Stand, Sick Yabu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-07 19:50:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 35,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20822867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yutorin/pseuds/yutorin





	1. Chapter 1

"Hikaru, your phone—" Yabu muttered, breaking their kiss and pulling away from where he had straddled Hikaru on their bed. Hikaru grabbed at his boyfriend's hip, not wanting to stop; things had just been getting interesting.

"Leave it. It's fine Kota." He declared, but Yabu was already picking the device up from their bedside table, checking the caller ID.

"It's Takaki." He sighed. "Today was the wedding. You should probably get this." He passed the phone to Hikaru, untangling their bodies, and he pouted, trying to win Hikaru over by being cute. "Help him. And then you'll be all mine for the rest of the night." Hikaru groaned a bit, not wanting to listen to Takaki whine about the horrors of being married. But he took the device.

Hikaru wanted so badly to be married. He was ready. He wanted nothing more than to put a ring on Kota's finger; and that rich son of a gun had managed to do the deed before him. Of course, it hadn't been by choice; Takaki hadn't really ever spoken to his now husband, Chinen Yuri, before their betrothal, some arrangement set up by their parents. But still. It wasn't fair. He answered the call, holding the phone up to his ear.

"Yo." There was a groan on the other end. He sighed. It was too late for this. He was too turned on for this. But he took a deep breath, trying to be a good, supportive friend. "Married life is that bad huh?" He asked, trying to be light about Takaki's situation. The older man sighed into the phone.

"I just want it to go away."

"It?" Hikaru couldn't help but ask.

"The wedding." Takaki grumbled in explanation. Oh. They were going through this round of complaints again.

"You didn't have to marry him." Hikaru reminded his friend, sitting up properly on the edge of his bed.

"Right. I could have just been disowned." Takaki muttered. Hikaru rolled his eyes. He honestly doubted Takaki's family would disown him. He'd met Takaki's parents. If no one else, the guy's mother would always send him money. "What the hell am I going to do?" Takaki sounded as if he'd just been told he had to shave his head. It wouldn't have made Hikaru snap, except that he'd heard this same question nearly every day since the engagement. Honestly, he was getting tired of it.

"Well, idiot, most people that find themselves in unhappy marriages either try to make it better, or file for a divorce." Yabu frowned a bit at him, but his harshness didn't seem to have affected Takaki, who just sighed again.

"Have you even been listening? There's no way I could get a divorce. I would get cut off for life, would have to get a job or something." He couldn't help but snort at the utter melodrama of that statement.

"Oh, the horror." But Takaki wasn't done.

"Plus, my mother spent an unbelievable amount of money on the dumb wedding. You'd think though, if she spent that much money, it would have been a bit more fun than it was." Hikaru felt the jealousy churning a bit in his stomach. He knew he would have been willing to chop off a limb to have the kind of money for his and Kota's wedding that Takaki's family had spent on his. But all he said was

"I bet the wedding was fun, and you would have seen that if you'd actually gotten up and moved around. And I bet you made poor Chinen sit at a table with you the whole time." His suspicions were confirmed when Takaki said defensively

"He didn't have to." Hikaru nearly groaned himself. That Chinen guy must have had a miserable time with this idiot.

"Well, do you think he wanted to?" His question was met with silence for a moment; Takaki disregarding it completely and responding with

"I can't just stay married though, that's ridiculous. Have I told you that my mother only put one bedroom, and one _bed_ in this dumb house?" That got Hikaru thinking. Yabu would find that funny. He pulled his phone away from his ear, turning to his boyfriend.

"Hey Kota, did you know Takaki's new house only has one bed for him and his new husband?" Yabu giggled a bit, saying

"Chinen? I heard he's a dancer or something. So he's probably really flexible in bed." The perverted grin on Yabu's face made him laugh, and he put the phone back to his ear, relaying what Yabu had said, Yabu giggling again.

"That was Yabu's comment, wasn't it? You two have been hanging out with Inoo too much." Takaki was indignant. "I'm sleeping on the couch." On the couch. Ouch. Not exactly the best way to treat a new husband; avoiding him. Hikaru decided to attempt some real, serious advice.

"Please just promise me that you're not going to ignore him, alright? All you've done is complain about yourself, but remember that you're not the only one that got married earlier today. You should get to know him—maybe this whole situation isn't as bad as you're making it up to be." His plea was met with silence on Takaki's end, Yabu beginning to lose his patience, getting to his feet and standing in front of Hikaru, arms crossed in a silent message. _Wrap this up._ But then Takaki just completely ignored his words, instead saying

"This place has a garage, want to have practice here this week?"

"Takaki." Hikaru was getting frustrated, rolling his eyes. Takaki was handling this like a child. Suddenly, Yabu reached in, snatching the phone from Hikaru's grasp, holding it up to his own ear with one hand as his other one pushed on Hikaru's shoulder, slowly forcing him to lay backwards onto their bed.

"Hikaru needs to get in bed and let me kiss his neck now, so if you guys could finish up this conversation in the morning, that would be great." Yabu announced, and Hikaru let out a barely controlled snort of laughter at his boyfriend's words.

"Kota-!" He exclaimed in surprise, but Yabu just ended the call, tossing the phone to the floor. He looked down at Hikaru with a small, satisfied smile, and Hikaru couldn't help but smile back.

"I love you." He muttered, and Yabu's grin got bigger, and he leaned over Hikaru's body, placing kisses all down his neck like he had said he would, his teeth scraping against the skin in the right places to make Hikaru shiver.

"Not tonight you haven't." He muttered, and Hikaru wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's skinny waist, responding with a quick

"Not yet." Before crashing their lips together.

Hikaru woke up too early, the sun having made it its goal that morning to blind him permanently. He rolled over, trying to hide his face, and he buried his nose in Yabu's neck, his boyfriend's soft skin feeling good against his face. Yabu; still asleep, didn't move, his lanky limbs still draped over Hikaru under their covers, feet tangled together. Hikaru tried to drift back off, but Yabu's hair was tickling his nose, and he found himself growing more and more awake, to his dismay.

He gave up on sleep after twenty minutes, and slowly, carefully, he untangled himself from Yabu, getting to his feet and slipping on some underwear before walking down the hall to their kitchen. He checked the broth he had started for the ramen earlier that evening, pleased with how it was coming along, while he waited for the coffee pot to power up. Their coffee maker was rather old and it sometimes got stuck, but Hikaru didn't want to waste any extra money on a new one. All of his extra cash was going into a savings account he had set aside for his and Kota's wedding. Not that Yabu knew about this. Hikaru hadn't even told him he was planning on proposing, all Yabu knew was that they had to drink exceptionally bad coffee.

Hikaru started the rice cooker just as the coffee machine finished, and he took a cup, filling it and plopping down at the kitchen table where he had left music scores not quite finished, scattered over the wooden surface. His handwriting was all over the pages, sprawling and jumping, written down in a moment of inspiration, barely legible. It was his latest song for the band he and Kota were in. He'd been cranking them out recently, the majority of his songs about Yabu. There was just something about his lover that made him want to write, to convey to the whole world how much he loved his boyfriend. Yabu, while slightly embarrassed, didn't seem to mind, so Hikaru wasn't planning on stopping any time soon.

He sipped his coffee—honestly it was disgusting—and he looked over what he had written, editing it into something readable, something playable, and he was in the middle of copying down the part he had written out for Inoo, their groups keyboardist, when the rice cooker finished. He got himself some breakfast, cracking an egg over his rice and continuing to work as he ate, humming the new song to himself, and suddenly he felt a pair of arms wrap around his shoulders.

"Good morning." Yabu cooed, and Hikaru didn't need to look at him to know that he was smiling, hearing it in his voice. Hikaru pretended to be surprised by Yabu's sudden appearance, jumping dramatically in his chair and dropping his pencil with a clatter; a loud gasp falling from his lips.

"Kota, you scared me!" He announced, whining high pitched and pouting to make Yabu laugh. His antics got their desired result, Yabu bursting out in laughter, his smile huge, eyes nearly disappearing in it. Hikaru felt a bubble of happiness rise up his throat when he saw that, but he kept up his act, huffing as if he was angry for being surprised, and he folded his arms, leaning back in his chair and pretending to sulk. Yabu's grin only grew bigger, but he put a hand on Hikaru's shoulder, leaning down to be more on his level, and he said

"Don't be like that, Hika." He too was joking, knowing that this was a game and happily going along with it. "C'mon." Yabu leaned in, placing a kiss on Hikaru's forehead. Hikaru let his pout get bigger.

"You missed." He mumbled, and Yabu leaned in again, placing one on his nose, still playing.

"Here?" He asked, mocking ignorance. Hikaru shook his head. Yabu leaned in to place a kiss on his ear. "Here?" He giggled. Hikaru shook his head again.

"You're not very good at this, Kota." He whined, and it was then that Yabu finally kissed him, their lips molding together in a way that was warm and comforting, and when they broke apart Hikaru finally dropped the act.

"I made coffee and rice." He informed his boyfriend, and Yabu nodded, kissing him again before padding into the kitchen to get himself a matching breakfast. They spent the morning together, going over the new piece and tweaking it, Yabu inputting his own ideas. By the time they had to go, Hikaru felt it was good enough to show his bandmates, and he tucked it in with the rest of his music, and hand in hand, their instruments slung over their shoulders, they left the house. They had rehearsal at noon, a gig that weekend that Hikaru was very excited about. But he was very excited about all of their gigs, if he was being honest.

He and Yabu were the first ones to make it to Yuto's house. Their newest and youngest member, Yuto was a gem. They'd found the college kid in their desperate search for a drummer, and the guy was not only immensely talented, he was generous, happily giving them a space to practice in his family's basement and often feeding them when they were there. He always had a smile on his face, his lanky body full of energy, and when they arrived he waved them in at once, offering them snacks and telling them enthusiastically about a bug his little brother had found behind his bookshelf that morning as they made their way to the basement.

Yuto had just disappeared into the upper level of his house when there were more footsteps on the basement steps, and Takaki and Inoo appeared. Hikaru stopped in setting up to stride over to their lead singer, clamping a hand down over Takaki's mouth before the older man was given a chance to speak.

"If you complain about being married anymore, I just might cut your tongue out. Leave that at the door and just focus on practice, we have a gig this weekend." Hikaru was serious. They were here to make music. He didn't want to put up with anything that would get in the way of that. Takaki looked indignant, his tongue licking the palm of Hikaru's hand incessantly until he pulled it away, wiping the saliva on his jeans.

"Woah, calm down. I wasn't going to do that. Besides, you can't cut my tongue out. I'm the lead vocalist—you guys need me." Takaki's words were met at once with a retort from Yabu, who paused in the fine tuning of his guitar to say

"Nah, we don't. Inoo, that Daiki of yours can sing, right?" Daiki was Inoo's best friend, and the whole band knew of their keyboardist's huge crush on his small companion. He was a common topic of conversation among the five of them. At Yabu's words Takaki mocked being offended, the goofing around eliciting giggles from everybody, as Yuto bounced down the stairs. The five of them finally present, they all warmed up and jumped right into rehearsal, starting off with one of their best songs, one they were sure would be on the playlist for their gig. Hikaru handed out the piece he had been working on that morning, a bit nervous about showing the group something new, but everyone accepted it readily, Inoo glancing over his part in surprise.

"Wow Hikaru, I just finished working in my part for the idea you had last week. You're cranking these out." Hikaru too looked over the scores, feeling warm and full of love. He glanced over at Yabu, catching the older man's eyes, and he felt a smile growing on his face.

"What can I say; I'm inspired." He admitted, knowing it sounded cheesy but not really caring. Kota liked cheesy things, as was proved in the smile he got in return for his efforts, caring and sweet and perfect. For a moment he was lost in that smile, the twinkling eyes and the perfect pink lips of it; but then someone shuffled their new pages of music, and the noise drew him back to their rehearsal, and they jumped into the new piece, the others feeling it out and adding personal touches as they saw fit, and rehearsal flew by in the strings of his bass and the words falling from Takaki's lips, and he lost himself in the music.

The rest of the week was spent doing his other job—his ramen stand. Kota was a student, busy with school when not practicing with the band, but Hikaru had not decided to continue his education, instead he had decided to fulfill his childhood dream of making ramen. It had been a little bit crazy at first, but Yabu had been—for the most part—supportive, and now a few years into the craft, Hikaru was a pro. Or at least good enough that they could make enough money to survive. Hikaru loved it, the customers, the way that he was his own boss both a great freedom and a great responsibility, and the food itself. He and Yabu lived off of ramen, eating it for more meals than either one would like to admit.

That Friday evening Hikaru set up in his usual spot, not really expecting many people until it got a bit later in the night, and for the most part he didn't get many people in the first two hours. One customer however, caught his interest. It was a petite little young man, with dark hair and a bag advertising the nearby dance studio slung over one shoulder. He had obviously just come from practice, and he placed his order and sat down, patiently waiting as Hikaru fixed him his meal. That wasn't what caught his attention though. It was after that, when Hikaru was giving the little guy his food.

"Have you ever had trouble talking to someone?" The young man asked, and Hikaru was almost immediately interested. He rarely was asked questions that weren't about his food; at least, not until it was much later in the night and his patrons were much more drunk than this guy. Since he didn't have any other customers, Hikaru pulled up a stool on his side of the stand, figuring this guy might want some company.

"What do you mean?" He prompted. The customer's mouth was full, but he swallowed quickly, saying

"It's my husband." Hikaru had to fight the urge to stand back up. Takaki's marriage whining was enough for him; he didn't need to hear about this guy's issues too. Besides, this guy looked really young. How was he even married in the first place? But he just nodded. This guy was a customer. He was to be treated well.

"Trouble in paradise?" He asked. The customer frowned a bit.

"I wouldn't quite call it that, either. We were arranged by our parents." The guy said, sparking Hikaru's attention. Two arranged marriages in a week? Perhaps they were more common than he had thought. This dancer guy's bag advertised the same dance studio that Daiki went to, so he had to have money. Daiki, like Takaki, was very well off. Maybe it was just a common practice among wealthy people. As he considered these things, the tiny dancer guy kept talking. "At first I thought he hated me, but apparently he doesn't dislike me."

Hikaru mentally winced at that statement. He couldn't imagine being married to someone he thought_ hated_ him. That seemed like an utterly depressing situation. Although, he figured, it was probably common in arranged marriages. He didn't voice any of this however, instead just saying

"But you can't talk to him?"

"He runs away from me!" The customer exclaimed, venting his frustrations. "I give out a conversation starter, and get ignored. I ask a question, and get a one word answer. I even ambushed him outside the shower once, and he just pushed right past me!" His words all spilled out in a rush, and Hikaru quite got the impression that the guy had been holding his feelings in for a while. But he wasn't done. "I want to make this work because I do like him, he's quite handsome and not mean to me, but I just don't know what to do."

Hikaru sat there thinking over what this young guy had said. He sounded rather desperate for attention. He also sounded like he really did like his husband, complimenting him despite the man having done nothing for him. He was trying hard to be a good spouse, and this guy wasn't reciprocating.

"Well, if it were me," He found himself sticking out a hand and introducing himself before continuing on with his advice. "then I would be less passive and a little more insistent. If you want attention, then go out and get some."

"I don't want to be an annoyance." The guy announced. Hikaru nearly rolled his eyes. What, so he could dump his problems on complete strangers, and that was fine, but he couldn't pester his husband? Hikaru would probably explode if he couldn't pester Yabu from time to time. Besides, if this guy was really being that bad about ignoring him then he probably deserved it.

"He sounds like he needs a little annoyance. You guys live together, right?" The customer nodded, his mouth full of noodles. "Then he probably won't be able to stay away forever. You're too cute." Hikaru tacked on the last bit as some flattery. It was always good to flatter the customers. It kept them coming back. Not that this guy wasn't cute. He was. In a very stereotypical way. Big eyes and a tiny face; petite and fit looking. His comment made the little guy laugh, and he smiled, standing up as more customers came, serving them promptly. But as they didn't seem to have any interest in talking with him he quickly returned to the first guy.

Yes, he was cute, but Hikaru didn't personally find him attractive. It was probably because he had Kota, he couldn't help but think. He sighed. It seemed that karma was against him. Everyone he ran into that wasn't really ready to be married was, while he was stuck not yet even engaged. He found himself voicing this to the young guy. He kinda figured he had a right. This man had just vented at him. They could share their troubles. So he told the customer about how he wanted to propose. About how he was saving up for a ring, and the customer smiled and listened, and afterwards he said

"I'd give you my wedding, if I could." Hikaru was taken aback by that. No one should so easily wish away their wedding. But it was still a very kind offer, so he thanked the guy. With that the dancer left, paying for his meal and bouncing away, and Hikaru had plenty of other talkative customers later on that night, but none of the discussions stayed with him the way the one with the dancer did.

And when he finally got home that night—exhausted, feet hurting from standing for so long, fingers numb from burning them repeatedly with the hot broth, his eyes tired as it was now the early hours of morning—he mentioned the guy as he curled up next to Yabu in their bed; knowing he smelled like ramen and not caring. He tried to explain what he was talking about, sure he wasn't making much sense, but Yabu just nodded and tucked Hikaru's head under his chin, a lanky arm around his shoulders, and Hikaru was asleep in moments.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day was—thankfully—a Saturday, and the morning was spent naked in bed with his boyfriend, much to Hikaru's pleasure. The afternoon however, was spent preparing for the gig they had that evening. They both checked and rechecked their instruments and music, Hikaru fretting over the set list while Yabu made them an early dinner; they had completely forgotten about lunch, and had woken up too late for breakfast. They ate quickly, Hikaru still buried in the schedule and plans and music for the night's gig, Yabu letting him think quietly to himself, only occasionally leaning across the table to put a comforting hand on his own, the touch a gentle reminder that his obsessing wouldn't actually change anything. That they did this first and foremost, because they liked it, and not because it was something to stress over. Hikaru didn't know what he would do without Yabu.

He was suddenly reminded of the arranged marriage customer a few hours later, at the venue as he checked the tuning on his bass. The band was all hanging out in their waiting room, when he saw Takaki, and suddenly remembered. As it was something to keep his mind off of the way his dinner was churning in his stomach due to nerves, he decided to voice the thought.

"Funny story, Takaki, last night I served a kid at my ramen stand that was in the same boat as you. Arranged marriage. Except he seemed to be handling the situation much better than you are." Takaki looked over at him in surprise, obviously taking note of the little jab Hikaru had lightly tacked on at the end. Inoo too decided to contribute.

"Everyone would handle the situation better than Takaki." He joked, and Takaki huffed, flicking his carefully styled hair out of his face. Yabu however, was seriously considering the information, and he said

"That's two arranged marriages in a week, are they becoming common now or something?" Yuto and Inoo shrugged, but Hikaru voiced his theory.

"He looked like he went to the same dance studio as Daiki, and that place is expensive so I figured he was another rich guy. Maybe rich people are doing it." Yuto however, was skeptical; shooting that idea down, fiddling with the drumsticks he almost constantly carried with him as he said

"I don't know, Keito has never mentioned anything about that to me. He's in a normal relationship with a normal guy, from what I can tell." Keito was Yuto's best friend. Quiet and shy, he had only come by one of their rehearsals, but it seemed that he and Yuto got along quite well, despite their difference in family wealth. Keito was the son of an ambassador or something; Yuto had told them once, explaining that Keito's Japanese was kind of bad because of living in Europe for so long. Hikaru was just about to ask about Keito when they were called to be on standby, and the tension in the room rose, everyone falling silent as they all mentally prepared themselves for the gig.

The performance passed by in a rush of adrenaline and the flow of the music, and to Hikaru's delight the newer pieces they had included fit in without a hitch. He found himself watching Yabu from his spot on the stage, entranced by the way the words falling from Takaki's lips described the striking perfection that was Kota. The little things, from his surprisingly long eyelashes to the way the top joints of his fingers bent, to the fact that he broke his phone like clockwork three times a year, all wrapped up in Hikaru's love for him, flowing out in the music and making his chest swell with the emotion.

Once off the stage Yabu pulled him into a kiss, Hikaru wrapping his arms around his boyfriend's waist, bringing him closer, loving every second of it. Loving being able to hold Yabu, and touch him, and kiss him. The proposal nearly spilled out right then, the words 'Marry me' on his tongue as they broke their kiss, and he had to work to keep them from breaching his lips, and the rest of the night as they talked and laughed and drank with the rest of the group, proposing lingered in the back of his mind, a constant thought; a desire that he wanted to fulfill, and that night as they finally headed home, slightly drunk and definitely horny and happy, Hikaru realized once more that Yabu was the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

The next few days he threw himself into his work, counting every coin in his bank account, trying to get a basic idea of exactly how long it would take before he had enough money to be comfortable with proposing to Kota. A couple of times he went out in the morning and asked around various jewelers for ring prices, looking the rings over to try and get an idea of what he wanted. His boyfriend meanwhile, was fretting a bit over his new year of college. He was due to start in a week, and he was constantly running out to buy various items that he needed for school—usually replacements for the ones he had lost the previous semester. They were both very busy, so that Thursday when Hikaru slipped out the door he promised to come home early, eager to get in some proper, quality time with Yabu. Hikaru had completely forgotten about the dancer customer with the husband issues until the young man plopped down on a stool at Hikaru's stand, announcing

"He talked to me!" For a moment Hikaru was thoroughly bewildered. What was this little guy talking about? But then something in the back of his mind vaguely recalled their previous conversation, and he nodded, staying silent and trying to remember properly as the little guy ordered his ramen. It wasn't until he was passing the customer his food that it finally clicked. This was the guy with the arranged marriage; the guy in Takaki's situation! It all came flooding back in a rush, and suddenly much more confident in his ability to make conversation with this petite man, he said

"That's fantastic! Finally cracked him, huh? How did you get him to talk?" The customer grinned, scooping up some noodles in his chopsticks and saying

"Part of it was the advice you gave me, you know, about being a little annoying. Part of it though, I think, was that he was really hungover." He slurped the noodles happily, and Hikaru laughed bemusedly at the response.

"Hungover?" The guy giggled too, nodding.

"Yup. I gave him some painkillers and coffee and breakfast." Hikaru thought that over, remembering mornings that he had woken up to a dry mouth and a pounding headache, and Yabu had provided similar services to the ones this guy had mentioned.

"That'll do it." He declared; ready to ask about the customer's conversation with his asshole husband when a voice carried over the street.

"What'll do it?" Hikaru tore his eyes away from the customer, immediately meeting Yabu's as his lanky boyfriend approached, a huge eye engulfing grin on his face. Hikaru had thought Yabu would be waiting at home, and his sudden appearance made a ball of happiness settle in his chest, and he allowed Yabu to drag him forward across the counter of the stand to place a quick kiss on his lips, muttering a hasty explanation before the sound of noodles being slurped made him aware of where they were, and he immediately felt embarrassed—they couldn't do this when he was working! He glanced over at the little dancer guy, scolding

"Kota! I have a customer!" But the tiny man waved his concerns away, digging into his bowl for more noodles and saying

"I don't mind. It's fine." Yabu introduced himself to the customer, joining Hikaru around the other side of the stand and wrapping his arms around Hikaru's waist from behind, leaning down and resting his head on Hikaru's shoulder.

"You said you were closing early tonight." Kota whined right into his ear, and Hikaru slipped out of his boyfriend's arms and pivoted to face him, poking him playfully on the nose and saying

"Early still means later than eight PM, so you're going to have to wait." At the arrival of another customer he pulled away, expecting Kota to either take a seat or pout and meander back to their apartment, but instead Kota rolled his sleeves up and joined him in serving the customer, and Hikaru felt a warm, happy bubble of delight nestle in his chest as he and Kota worked together in the tiny space. Once the man had left however, his boyfriend pouted, saying

"How many more customers do you have to serve now?" He looked like a little kid that wanted to know if he had eaten enough spinach to get desert, and Hikaru couldn't help but laugh.

"Yabuchii, how am I supposed to know that? I do want to come home, but I can't close up yet. I'm sorry." He fought the urge to place some comforting kisses on his boyfriend's lips, as Yabu continued to protest.

"But Hikaru...We won't get to see each other as much when college starts up again." It was true. Yabu would get very busy with school in the following weeks, Hikaru remembering how it had been the previous year, with Kota so engrossed in his school work that he sometimes wouldn't come to bed at all, sitting up at his desk and studying until the sun rose. Hikaru hadn't really liked Yabu going to school. Not that he didn't think it was a good idea. He was proud of his boyfriend for continuing his education. He had just missed him.

Kota's comment sparked conversation with the dancer—who apparently went to the same university—and the two talked about school for a long time while Hikaru served other customers, only half paying attention to what his boyfriend was doing, more focused on his job. But eventually the petite dancer customer left, and as the night wore on it got more busy, Yabu settling in at his side serving the customers. He was very charismatic, the businessmen seeming to enjoy Kota's chatter as they ate. Hikaru too found it endearing, the lanky young man's presence putting something inside his chest at ease, and he found himself allowing his boyfriend to sling a long arm over his shoulders like he used to when they were kids. He loved having Kota there by his side.

They were barely through their front door that night when Hikaru pressed Yabu up against the wall, taking his face in his hands and kissing him roughly, the desire to touch and feel his boyfriend had been building all night. The way their shoulders had brushed in the tiny space behind the stand, the shared looks and muttered words that had filled the evening had brought out this need in him to feel Kota's skin. To hold him. To touch him and love him.

Kota pressed up against him, his hands reaching out, grabbing for Hikaru's shoulders, their tongues working against each other, Yabu's nails digging into his back through his shirt, and when they finally pulled apart the older boy let out a soft whine.

"The bedroom." Hikaru muttered. That's where everything they needed was. But Yabu pressed hot kisses all along his throat, breathing heavy as he murmured

"No. Here." Hikaru froze for a moment before shaking his head. Hikaru was going to do this right. It had been a long time since they had just dropped everything and had sex right in some hallway or somewhere, unplanned and unprepared for. It hadn't happened since they were teenagers, when they were still driven by hormones and inexperienced. He could recall all too well the way Yabu had choked back tears of pain, and even if his boyfriend had forgotten, he wasn't about to do that again. It wasn't worth the release.

"C'mon Kota." He muttered, nipping playfully at his boyfriend's lips, pulling him forward by his hips as he took a few backwards steps toward the hallway that led to the bedroom. Yabu pouted a bit, shuffling forward, trying to reconnect his lips with the juncture where Hikaru's neck and shoulder met. But he gave in, saying almost childishly

"Alright, but you owe me at least three orgasms tonight, Hika."

Hikaru chuckled at that, but he quickly dragged him to the bedroom, pushing him down on the bed with a low growl, crawling on top of him as Kota's legs naturally wrapped themselves around his waist, and he muttered

"You know I can do better than that." Before leaning in and rolling their hips together, his lips hot on his boyfriend's throat.

The band didn't get back together for another rehearsal until that following Monday. Hikaru had attempted to find some way to reschedule it, hoping to spend Yabu's last day off with just the two of them. He had almost succeeded too, secretly very happy when Yuto had called and informed them over lunch that his basement—their usual place for rehearsing—was undergoing renovations, and was no longer available. That was, until Takaki had offered his new home as an alternate location for practice, his new husband apparently out for the day, also a college student.

Hikaru forgot how disappointed he was with having to resume their plans once the rehearsal was in full swing, everyone enjoying themselves, laughing and joking around. Inoo had brought Daiki, the small young man telling hilarious stories and doting on them. It was a lot of fun, and they didn't actually manage to get much done in the way of improvement or music production, but their schedule was currently empty, so Hikaru wasn't too concerned about that. He let himself relax and enjoy the good natured stupidity, not even protesting when they cut practice short in exchange for hanging out and eating dinner.

Everyone was talking and laughing as they put their instruments away, and Takaki oversaw the process, declaring

"When Chinen gets here though, you all need to leave." Internally Hikaru immediately rejected that. He really wanted to meet Takaki's husband. He was curious about him. What type of person was he? He'd heard rumors about the young man, but all he really knew was that his name was Chinen Yuri. When they'd first arrived at Takaki's house he had searched the rooms for a picture of the guy, but they didn't even have their wedding photo up, the walls barren.

Kota broke him out of his train of thought, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward Takaki's couch after they had their guitars safely stored away. All of them rushed the piece of furniture, but Hikaru and Yabu got prime real estate on its cushions, settling in comfortably as everyone argued about what to eat. Takaki literally had never cooked in his life, so they were ordering takeout. It was only a moment after they had finally ordered their food when the door was pushed open, and to Hikaru's complete surprise, the little dancer customer from Thursday walked in.


	3. Chapter 3

"Alright, now you guys really have to leave." Takaki announced as the tiny young man's eyes swept over all of them, stopping when they shared a look.

"Hikaru...?" Suddenly it all fell into place. No wonder this guy's situation had reminded him so much of Takaki's.

"You're the guy from my ramen stand with the asshole husband!" The words fell from his mouth unthought through. He whipped his head around, lost for the moment in his epiphany as he pointed at Takaki, the older man looking stunned. "You're the asshole husband?" Takaki frowned.

"I'm...what?" He looked affronted, but his reaction was overridden by Daiki's mildly surprised

"Do you two know each other too?"

"Too?" Takaki asked, his voice weak, looking stunned as Chinen and Daiki waived at each other in a friendly manner. Kota took the opportunity to wave as well, leaning forward and saying

"I've met him as well, but I didn't know he was Chinen. You are much too cute for this idiot, just so you know." As he settled back into the cushions Hikaru slung an arm over his shoulders, pulling him a little bit closer and letting his hand dip just inside the edge of his boyfriend's shirt collar, his palm resting on the smooth skin of his chest, Kota's pulse hot beneath his fingertips. At once Kota's own hand settled on his thigh, his fingers lazily tracing circles and unnamable shapes, their movement relaxing and affectionate. Hikaru kind of tuned out the conversation up until Chinen turned to his husband, saying

"Takaki, this is the band?" Hikaru sent a surprised glance over at Takaki. The way the older man had talked had made it sound as if Chinen knew nothing of his life. Hikaru had to ask

"He knows about us?" Takaki grumbled, obviously not wanting to discuss it, and so they all turned their attentions back to Chinen, filling him in on their positions in the band and repeating their names for good measure. When Hikaru's turn to introduce himself properly to Chinen came, he couldn't help but pointedly tack on afterwards

"And, Takaki, I met Chinen when he stopped by the ramen stand for dinner, and to complain about this dumb husband he has that never talks to him." He honestly hated Takaki's refusal to talk to his husband. There could be no progress in their relationship in any manner if there was no communication. And there obviously wasn't. Or at least there wasn't enough. But Takaki just ignored him, and he pursed his lips in frustration at the older man's childish behavior. Kota picked up on his mood and traced comforting circles on his thigh with his palm, just the way Hikaru liked it, doing it through everyone's instrument introductions. Daiki took a turn as well, explaining to the group that he knew Chinen from his dance studio, claiming that they were both friends with a third dancer—Ryosuke.

At the mention of Yamada Ryosuke Hikaru and Inoo shared a look. Hikaru had never met Yamada, but he'd heard plenty about the young man, mostly through Inoo's jealous whining. Inoo was ridiculously in love with Daiki, and while he didn't seem to be willing to confess his feelings, he was very able to complain about Daiki hanging out with his other friends, especially if those other friends were young, single, and—according once again to Inoo—hot. Inoo narrowed his eyes a bit at the mention of the other guy, but he didn't comment. There was some polite small talk for a while, Hikaru turning his attention to Chinen.

"We practiced in your garage, I hope you don't mind." He said, realizing that having this many unfamiliar people in one's home—even if some of them weren't so unfamiliar—could be stressful. But Chinen just shrugged.

"Of course not. You guys can come over whenever you like."

"That's good, because we need a new place to practice." He said, feeling embarrassed a bit. Yuto explained.

"My basement is under construction." Chinen looked over at the lanky drummer, nodding; his eyebrows raised a bit as he took in the information.

"Oh, is that where Takaki has been going every day?" Hikaru sent an indignant glance over to where Inoo had dragged Takaki away from the conversation and into the kitchen. Takaki was leaving every day for hours on end? He was so obviously avoiding his husband that it made Hikaru cringe in embarrassment for Chinen. Yabu too seemed a bit angry about this discovery, a frown pursing his lips, and Hikaru knew that his boyfriend was also wondering once again how this idiot had managed to get married before they had. Daiki, oblivious to their thoughts, shook his head and answered Chinen's question.

"Not every day, but he's been at all of our houses, too. Apparently he told you that what, he doesn't eat breakfast? He would come whining to me and begging me to cook him stuff.” Chinen folded his arms, pouting and grumbling out

"I've been making him breakfast every morning anyway. He could have eaten here." Next to him, Yabu let out a laugh at that discovery, saying

"Takaki is a little dumb." It was at this moment that Inoo and Takaki decided to rejoin the conversation, and Inoo flounced over, a mischievous smile on his face as he asked teasingly

"Are we talking about Takaki being dumb? I have plenty of stories." Hikaru couldn't help but smile as a slightly panicked look graced Takaki's face, and he pointed at Inoo, trying to sound intimidating as he said

"I will kick you out of this house. Physically." Inoo ran around the coffee table to use Chinen as a shield from their lead singer, and his actions elicited more laughter from the group, Chinen chiming in, and Hikaru was glad to see that the new husband was already fitting in. Everything would just be better if everyone could all get along. Inoo and Chinen sprawled out on the floor next to Daiki, and Yabu squished even closer to Hikaru than he had before to make room for Takaki on the couch, their sides now pressed flush up against one another, and Hikaru let his hand travel just a little bit farther inside his boyfriend's shirt, Kota glancing over at him knowingly and giggling a bit in a way that let Hikaru know that he didn't mind the touch. As they were doing this, Chinen asked not unkindly

"So, Daiki, if you're not in the band then why are you here?" At the question a silence settled over the room, and Hikaru realized—as it seemed many of them did at that moment—that while Daiki was a welcome and common presence at their rehearsals, he wasn't actually necessary for anything. Daiki just shrugged, responding lightheartedly

"Because I'm their only fan. I didn't know I needed a reason."

"You don't." Hikaru let the words slip from his lips at once. He would never want Daiki to feel unwelcome. His immediate assurance had pulled the group's attention over to him, and Inoo's eyes swept over himself and Yabu, a weird expression on his face, and the pretty keyboardist said

"Guys, leave at least a little room for Jesus." Hikaru blinked, completely disregarding Inoo's comment on their public affection. They should be used to it by now. Yabu just sent their friend a confused glance and tentatively removed his hand from where it had rested on Hikaru's knee. They were saved from any awkward comments or further protests to their open display of affection by the sound of the door bell. At the noise they all perked up, Hikaru's stomach growling in anticipation.

"Food!" Yuto darted off of the couch, leaping over the three guys lying on the floor to get to the door, startling the poor delivery man as he slurred out a quick thanks and snatched their food into his lanky arms, the boxes stacked high. Takaki paid and the food was passed out, everyone digging into their meals. Chinen stayed in the living room with them, flopping down on the floor by Daiki with the food Takaki had ordered for him. The conversation quickly turned to Chinen and Takaki's relationship, much to Hikaru's surprise. He had figured it would be a sore topic, but Chinen readily confirmed to the band that he did have feelings for Takaki, once Takaki had left the room.

The meal was reaching its end when Hikaru's phone suddenly went off, and he wriggled around, unfolding himself from around Yabu to pull the device out of his pants pocket. Once he had managed that task he put the phone to his ear with a light hearted

"Hello?"

"Hello. Is this Yaotome Hikaru?" An unfamiliar voice asked from the other side. He sat up a little straighter. This sounded like a work call.

"Yes, that's me."

"I'm calling from Amnesia Night Club. We've had a last minute cancelation and I was wondering if you were available." Hikaru could barely believe his ears. Amnesia Night Club was a pretty high end place. They'd only been there one other time, and he'd honestly rather given up on any thought of them going back. He tried to keep his voice level and professional as he responded.

"Yes, we are available..."

"This Friday?" The man on the other end asked. Hikaru nearly fist pumped in excitement.

"This Friday? Yes." He found himself grinning as they finished the formalities, breaking out into a huge smile as soon as he got off the phone. The other band members were all looking at him expectantly as he slipped his device back into his pocket, and Inoo asked

"Where are we playing?"

"Amnesia." He told them, and Yuto let out a whoop of excitement. Yabu placed a sloppy kiss on his cheek, making Hikaru blush just a bit, a huge grin on his boyfriend's face.

"Chinen should come." Daiki announced. Hikaru thought this was a fantastic idea, nodding enthusiastically with the rest of the band. He wanted to try and include Chinen. The little guy was a part of their group for life now, and he wanted to get to know him. Yabu however, voiced an important question, pointing at Chinen with his chopsticks and saying

"You are legal, right?" Chinen pouted a bit, responding with a jokingly hurt

"Just because I'm short..." There was some laughter, and Hikaru was pleased to see Chinen already teasing them. He wanted him to feel comfortable, despite the awkward relationship—or seemingly lack thereof—he had with Takaki. A smile broke out on Chinen's face, and he dropped the act, honestly answering Yabu's question with a light "Yes, yes I am."

"Awesome." Yabu was grinning, and Hikaru resisted the urge to fondly brush his bangs away from his eyes. "We'll just tell them you're with us." And just like that it was decided that Chinen was coming. Hikaru glanced over at Takaki to try and determine how the singer felt about the decision, but his older friend's expression was blank.

The next day was Yabu's first day of university for the semester, and Hikaru woke up early to pack his boyfriend a lunch and write his name on all of his school supplies. He was in the middle of writing their contact information on the inside cover of a history textbook when Yabu emerged from their bedroom, dressed but obviously still not completely awake. He leaned in for a kiss, pecking Hikaru on the lips before looking down at what he was doing.

"I'm not five you know Hikaru." Hikaru finished writing his cell phone number in the book and capped his permanent marker before responding.

"But I didn't do this last time and you went through_ three _psychology textbooks. So I'm taking precautions." He stood, trying to appease his obviously still slightly grumpy boyfriend with a tender kiss on the forehead, having to raise himself up just slightly onto his tiptoes to reach. Yabu got himself a cup of coffee and breakfast as Hikaru packed his bag for him, and once Yabu had shoved food down his throat Hikaru saw him off with a strong hug and a long kiss. He knew it was silly to miss Yabu; his boyfriend was going to be back that evening, happy and healthy. But as he stood on their doorstep in his pajama bottoms and nothing else he couldn't help but call after him, yelling down the street at Yabu's retreating back

"Kota!" _I love you._ The words resounded in his chest, and despite never actually saying them he knew Yabu understood his feelings when the lanky older man blew him a kiss, grinning widely. Hikaru was blushing in embarrassment, but he felt a bit better, and he waved before going inside. He fed himself breakfast, and then pulled out a folder of all of the band's songs, scattering the pages across the surface of the kitchen table, trying to compose a set list for their gig on Friday. Chinen was coming, and he wanted Takaki's marriage to work out. It couldn't hurt to try and pick songs that showed off the singer's smooth voice. With that in mind, he got to work.

He worked on this throughout most of the day, stopping at around four o'clock to prepare for his actual job in the evening and make Yabu dinner so that it would be waiting for him when he got home. He speculated about Kota's experiences of the day throughout all of the preparations for work, and even as he got his ramen stand to his usual spot and was setting up he couldn't help but wonder how school had been, and when his boyfriend would get home. It wasn't that he was worried. It was just that he didn't like being forced to be apart. As if on cue he got a text from _Yabubun_—his boyfriend changed his nickname in Hikaru's cell phone at his own whim, and it had been Yabubun for a while now. He opened up the message. It was a picture Kota had taken of himself, obviously at home, grinning like an idiot with his dinner, and underneath the photo were the words

_Yum!! Come home soon! Love you! _Hikaru knew a smile was growing on his own face, and he felt refreshed, putting on a big smile and working hard, his determination to sell lots of ramen renewed. He was charismatic and silly and playful with the customers all night, his energy high. He was like this all through the night, and he got home late, expecting for Kota to already be asleep. But when he pushed through the front door his boyfriend called out to him softly.

"Welcome home." Hikaru slipped off his shoes, going into the kitchen to see Yabu sitting up waiting for him, a meal—saran wrapped to keep it warm—at Hikaru's usual spot. When they saw each other Yabu pouted childishly. "You're late! I asked you to come home soon."

"It's fine." Hikaru brushed off the complaint, sitting down and reaching out to take Yabu's hand across the table. "I'm home now." He let his thumb rub gently across the bumps and angles of his boyfriend's fingers, and he unwrapped his meal, thanking Yabu for the food and digging in. As he ate Yabu told him all about his first day back at school, giving his first impressions of his classmates and his teachers. Hikaru loved listening to his boyfriend talk, liked hearing the thoughtfulness in his voice as he tried to come up with the most appropriate words to get his opinions across. But it was already early morning, and once Hikaru had finished eating they curled up in bed, both exhausted from their long day, and they were asleep within moments of their heads hitting the pillow.

The next day went by in a whirlwind of paper, Hikaru finalizing the set list to their gig on Friday and Yabu tackling his school assignments. They both spent their day around the kitchen table, sheet music getting mixed up with worksheets, cups of tea balanced precariously on textbooks. And in this fashion the next few days flew by, until they found themselves slinging their guitars over their shoulders, locking up the apartment behind them as they left for the gig. They took the train, getting there before everyone else, although Yuto texted them, assuring them that he was on his way with the rest of the instruments.

It wasn't until they arrived at the place that Hikaru began to feel anxious. This was an important performance, everything needed to go smoothly. He felt an overcritical, perfection seeking pattern of anxious worry creeping up on him, and he grabbed Yabu's hand, giving it a squeeze. Understanding at once, his boyfriend squeezed back, murmuring

"This is just for fun. It's not something we need to put pressure on. All we can do is try to enjoy ourselves, right Hika?" Hikaru nodded, just as Yuto and Inoo burst through the door to their provided backstage room, instruments in hand. He took a deep breath. Yabu was right. He leaned in, nuzzling his boyfriend's cheek before gently placing a kiss there, and he murmured

"Thanks, Kota." Yabu grinned, ducking his head a bit in embarrassment, and with that they went to help Inoo and Yuto with their much more complicated instruments.

It became apparent during their warm up however, that he wasn't the only one that was anxious. Takaki was a bundle of nerves backstage, his temper on edge, voice not nearly as strong as it usually was. As it needed to be. Hikaru had mixed feelings about Takaki's obvious nervousness. On one had it was a sign that the older man actually cared about his husband and wanted to impress him. On the other it wouldn't be impressive or beneficial in any way if Takaki sounded like a dying chicken.

Luckily, their lead singer pulled himself together during the performance, and Hikaru managed to lose himself in the cheering of the crowd and the beat falling from his fingertips as they flitted across the strings of his bass. They only performed five songs, but it was an amazingly uplifting experience, adrenaline coursing through his veins as they took a final bow and exited the stage. This was why he performed. He loved being able to do this. To feel like this, surrounded by people he loved. No one seemed to notice his overly affectionate train of thought, all of them chattering and hugging each other as they began to put their instruments away.

Hikaru had temporarily forgotten that Chinen had come to watch their performance, reminded suddenly when he glanced up from storing his bass in its case to see the petite man talking with his husband, the both of them smiling widely, and Hikaru nodded a bit to himself in satisfaction. Perhaps after this they could start down the road to being proper life partners. Kota took notice of the scene as well, and leaned into his side a bit, saying quietly

"That's nice, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I'm glad to see them being so friendly." Hikaru agreed. His attention was quickly stolen by a stranger banging discordantly on the drums, the uneven rhythm trying on his ears and making him whisk his head around. It was a tiny muscular guy, and Yuto had him practically enfolded in his much larger body, standing behind him and obviously attempting to show him how to use the instrument, a slightly dazed look on his face, his eyes positively sparkling as he gazed down at his unnamed companion. Daiki and Inoo attempted to dance to the unintelligible banging, twirling around the room, still stupidly happy and not quite down off of the rush of performance.

Hikaru was going to get involved in the mix when he felt a finger on his chin, and he turned to look at Yabu, his boyfriend not giving him a chance to do much of anything before crashing their lips together. On instinct Hikaru leaned into the kiss, his arms wrapping around Yabu's tiny waist, drawing the taller man just a little closer, feeling his chest rise and fall with every breath. He felt as if his whole body was hypersensitive, every touch from Kota electrifying, and he forced himself to take the initiative to pull away after a few moments. He instead leaned their foreheads together, his breathing labored. They couldn't be like this here. They were still out with their friends.

"Kota." The word came out in a sigh, and Yabu honest to god chuckled, knowing how aroused he had managed to get Hikaru in a mere matter of moments, and also knowing that Hikaru was too polite to just ditch their friends and head straight back home. But then he took Hikaru's hand, acting for once like the older of the two and gently stroking Hikaru's hair.

"Sorry." He sounded genuinely apologetic, and Hikaru stood up straight, taking a deep breath and smiling, adjusting their twined fingers so that they fit just so, and glancing back out into the room. Luckily no one seemed to have noticed their quick little make out session, Daiki taking Chinen and the short stranger guy and leaving with a wave and a hug from Inoo. Yuto meanwhile had collapsed, sprawled out on the floor by his drum set, one hand clutching tightly to his phone, the device pressed to his chest, his eyes closed. Curious, he and Yabu made their way over to their precious drummer, Yabu taking the initiative and asking

"What's up?" The others too began gathering around Yuto's body on the floor, as he announced

"I'm falling in love." Hikaru didn't see anything for Yuto to be falling in love with, asking in mock concern

"Right now?" But Yuto barely acknowledged his question, saying

"Did you see him? I haven't seen him since I was eight, or nine, or something, and now..." Hikaru was completely confused. Luckily, so was everyone else.

"Who are we talking about?" Inoo asked, looking bewildered. Yuto finally opened his eyes, announcing as if they were all idiots

"Yamada! We were friends when we were kids, next door neighbors, and then he moved away. I can't believe he remembered me. He grew up so much, he's..." Oh. Suddenly everything made sense. That guy that had left with Daiki and Chinen was the infamous Yamada Ryosuke that Inoo would whine about. The dancer that was friends with Daiki and Chinen. They must have dragged him along with them. Yuto was looking as if he'd just seen a unicorn, a not-entirely-there look in his eyes, a smile plastered on his face. But Takaki just cocked a hip, folding his arms over his chest and saying

"I wouldn't get too excited, Daiki is driving him home." There was a running half-serious joke amongst them that Daiki was a dangerous driver, and Hikaru didn't really feel that it was a point of concern, but Yuto pulled himself sharply to a sitting position and began tapping out a message on his phone, undoubtedly to Yamada. Figuring there had been enough fooling around; Hikaru got everyone cleaning up their instruments and any other disturbances to the room.

They packed up everything into Yuto's vehicle, and then the group returned to the club, Yabu and Yuto dragging the rest of them out onto the dance floor, and Hikaru found himself laughing and dancing to the deafening club music with the rest of the band, the five of them behaving unbelievably dorky, having an amazingly good time. At one point however, they lost Inoo, and once they had recovered their pretty keyboardist he was giggling, swaying slightly and obviously tipsy, and it was at about that time that they decided to call it a night. They exited the club; half deaf from the loud music, but Hikaru sidled up to Takaki, their lead singer glancing over at him, a smile on his lips.

"How did Chinen like us?" Hikaru found himself asking. Takaki paused, obviously considering the question.

"He said we were really great." He glanced down at his shoes, kicking at the ground a bit and admitting “He said he liked my voice." Yabu, who had been lagging behind with Inoo and Yuto, caught up to them, cooing and bumping Takaki's shoulder, a big grin on his face. They reached where the ones with vehicles had all parked, Hikaru and Yabu helping Yuto get Inoo into the passenger seat of his family's van, buckling him in and wishing them a safe trip home, as Takaki bid them all a good night and took off on his motorcycle.

Once Yuto too had driven off Hikaru and Yabu struck out into the night, heading for the train station.

"I'm tired. Let's go home and get in bed." Yabu announced, and they did just that, curling up all wrapped around each other, their legs a tangled mass under the sheets, chests pressed together, noses buried in necks.


	4. Chapter 4

In the next weeks they settled into a new routine. It was busy—Yabu with his classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and band rehearsals at Takaki's at least twice a week filling up their Monday through Friday. To Hikaru's delight he got a phone call from a small bar owner that had seen their most recent performance and was willing to pay them a small amount of money to play at his establishment every Saturday night. Everything was going well, life was busy but happy, and Hikaru's ramen stand was becoming a popular haunt for a large group of businessmen from a nearby computer company, the guys coming by three to five times a week, their money a great addition to Hikaru's wedding stash. At this rate there was a great possibility he could have enough money to propose by Christmas.

But the fast pace Hikaru's world was rolling at came to a complete stop one morning when he woke to the sound of coughing. It was Kota, his knobby, skinny frame positively shaking as he leaned over their tiny sink. Hikaru stood, joining the older man in the bathroom, gently placing a hand on his back, right between his shoulder blades. Yabu's skin was hot to the touch, and the quivering was made even more apparent when Hikaru could feel it under his own fingertips. Hikaru was extremely concerned. Kota rarely ever got sick; it was one of the older man's favorite things about himself. What had brought this on? Had he been overworking himself, trying to do school and the band?

Kota glanced up at him, their eyes meeting in the bathroom mirror, and he said weakly

"Don't get too close. I feel like I'm gonna vomit." Hikaru rubbed some circles on his boyfriend's back, saying gently

"Let's get you back into bed." Yabu grunted in protest.

"I have to go to class. I have class today, I can't be skipping."

"It's not skipping if you're genuinely sick. There's no way you're going to class today. I'll fix you up. C'mon." With a pathetic whimper, Yabu allowed himself to be led back to their bed, curling up under the blankets. Hikaru resigned himself to having to stay at home for the next few days until Kota was better. Kota was a bit of a handful whenever he didn't feel well, acting generally like a small child, crying easily and complaining, and as Hikaru coaxed him into taking a fever reducing medicine he realized that there was no way his boyfriend would be up for playing the gig the band had that Saturday.

Luckily when Hikaru got them all on a group phone call, Yuto had a solution to their dilemma, offering

"Keito plays guitar, I could ask him to play for us. He doesn't really learn fast, but I'm sure he could catch on. He tries really hard." He sounded enthusiastic about the idea, and with no other options Hikaru found himself agreeing and setting up an extra rehearsal to help try and catch Keito up. As Inoo had announced dramatically at the end of the call "The show must go on!" So that Wednesday Hikaru slipped out the door just as Yabu had dozed off, his medicine making him drowsy. When he got to Takaki's he was surprised to find Yuto already there, Keito with him, a guitar case slung on a strap over his shoulder.

Keito was tall, broad shouldered and more muscular than Hikaru remembered from the one time they had met. He was standing with Yuto, as close to the lanky boy's side as he could get himself, listening silently as Yuto and Takaki chatted lightly. Hikaru joined in the conversation, introducing himself to Keito. At once Keito bowed his head a bit, saying extremely politely

"I'm sorry Yabu is not feeling well. I hope he recovers soon. It must be hard on you. I'll do my best to accommodate your situation this week. Please be easy on me." The young man's response was soft and quiet, tainted with a bit of a foreign accent; his voice was small compared to his large figure. Hikaru was taken aback by the apology and the phrasing, and he just nodded, at a loss as to what to say. Yuto just giggled, and Keito sent him a wide eyed look, as if seeking approval. To Hikaru's surprise, Yuto gave it to him, nodding slightly, and Keito smiled a bit.

Soon Inoo arrived and they set up, rehearsal starting in earnest. Hikaru wasn't sure what to expect from Keito's guitar skills, rather skeptical as he handed over copies of Yabu's parts to all of the songs he'd need to know for their gig that Saturday. His skepticism only grew when Keito tripped over the cord connecting Inoo's keyboard to the wall, crashing to the ground. But warm up went well, and despite not having ever seen the music before Keito held his own, concentrating very hard as he played to try and keep up with everyone else. Hikaru was pleasantly surprised; he hadn't been anticipating the level of skill Keito obviously had, asking after their first song

"Keito, just how long have you been playing?" Yuto answered for his friend.

"As long as I have. He and I started learning at about the same time." No wonder. He nodded, and they played through five more songs before Inoo asked for a break, everyone tromping out of the garage and coagulating in Takaki's kitchen, sitting around on countertops and at the table. They all got drinks, Yuto handing Keito a cup of water, the older boy smiling at his friend, a quiet

"Thanks Yutorin." Falling from his lips. Hikaru thought the nickname was cute, something like Yabu would do. No one else seemed to notice; they were just generally fooling around, Takaki and Inoo launching into some story about how in middle school one of them convinced half of their grade that the other was actually a girl. Yuto was enthralled, but Hikaru had heard it before, so he turned his attention to Keito, leaning against the countertop next to the tall young man and genuinely curious he said

"What do you think of it all?" Keito seemed confused.

"It all?"

"This." He gestured to the rest of the band, where Takaki was playfully whacking Inoo on the head, all three of them giggling like idiots. "The band. The music. Us."

Keito looked over at the other three, obviously thinking over his answer.

"I think it's great. I know Yuto loves it, and you have all been very accommodating. The music is nice, and you're all very talented. You all care a lot about the band, and each other. It's a very positive feeling group...I think." The response was once again not at all what Hikaru had been expecting, yet very nice. He found himself liking Keito—despite having a slightly negative preconceived opinion of the younger man—and he chatted with him throughout the rest of their break. As they returned to the garage he got a text from Yabu, his boyfriend having just woken up from his nap, and they texted back and forth throughout the rest of the rehearsal, in between songs and in spare moments.

The only period of time Hikaru didn't spend looking at his phone or playing bass was when Takaki's husband got home from university, the petite man slipping in quietly during a song, his eyes locked curiously on Keito. Once the song was finished they all paused, Chinen smiling at the group and saying

"Hi." He gestured to Keito. "Who's this?" There was a pause, everyone turning to Keito, expecting him to introduce himself. The guy in question didn't seem to notice that everyone's attention was on him. He was staring at the music in front of him in deep concentration, fingering his guitar strings silently as he went over it in his head. Yuto jabbed him in the side with his elbow, catching Keito's attention and forcing him to look up. At once his eyes grew wide as he noticed everyone staring at him, and after a moment he noticed Chinen and introduced himself, an embarrassed blush creeping up his cheeks.

"I'm Okamoto Keito." Chinen just cocked an eyebrow, still looking confused, and Keito got the hint and explained just what it was that he was doing there.

"I'm Yuto's friend; I'm here in Yabu's place." Chinen nodded in understanding, smiling warmly at the taller man, and saying

"I'm Chinen Yuri; it's nice to meet you."

"Chinen?" Keito looked as if he had just realized something, but Yuto had apparently decided that enough time had been spent on the niceties, and began counting off their next song, throwing them all back into the music. Chinen listened for a while, but he eventually slipped out, and it wasn't until they were packing up that Yuto asked

"Keito, d'you know Chinen or something? You kinda looked like you did."

"Oh, no. But Ryutaro has a friend named Chinen." Hikaru listened to them talking as he packed up his bass. Inoo jumped into the conversation.

"Ooooh, who's Ryutaro?" Their keyboardist giggled, and Hikaru looked up to see Keito blushing, Yuto slinging an arm around his friend's shoulder and announcing

"Keito's boyfriend."

"Yutorin!" Keito glanced up at his friend, eyes wide, but he had a smile on his lips. When Yuto didn't back down from the statement he just nodded in confirmation, and Inoo cooed.

"We'll have to invite him to the show!" Hikaru agreed with Inoo, saying

"You'll have to ask him to come." Keito nodded again, and with a wave Hikaru took off back home.

In the days between rehearsal and the performance Hikaru spent all of his time with Kota. His boyfriend was insisting every day that he felt better, but the way he would cough, and his high temperature overrode his false words. Hikaru kept him on constant antibiotics, always able to tell when the medicine would be wearing off because Yabu would be prone to tears. When he wasn't crying or asleep Hikaru would read to him, or just tell him stories of his own invention. Kota seemed to like the ones he made up the best, and Hikaru would feel accomplished if he was able to make his ill companion laugh. He also tried to force the older man to eat, making him soups and bringing them to him in bed, trying to sound stern as he told Kota that he had to consume it. He couldn't afford to get any skinnier than he already was.

To Hikaru's relief their gig that Saturday went exceptionally well, Keito having obviously worked hard to get his parts down sufficiently. It felt strange to perform without Yabu, and Hikaru kept looking over throughout the performance, expecting to see him there, and instead meeting Keito's tentative gaze. Despite that Hikaru found himself grinning as they got off the stage, and he slung an arm over Keito's shoulder, thanking him for not only stepping in, but for doing it so well. The rest of the band too showered their temporary player with love and gratitude, and Keito seemed slightly overwhelmed, but very pleased, a large smile on his face. The smile only grew when a stranger peeked his head through the door to their room backstage, and Yuto yelled out over the talking and laughter

"Ryutaro!" Their drummer waved the boy in, and Hikaru presumed that this guy must be that boyfriend of Keito's that Yuto had mentioned. He was tall, built broad like Keito, and he had these big, serious eyes. He looked around, waving tentatively to Yuto, obviously searching for his boyfriend. Hikaru watched as Keito went up to greet the boy. He had been expecting some display of affection, a big hug or a kiss or something. But the two just stood there in front of each other, talking quietly and smiling, and Keito discretely took Ryutaro's hand in his own, giving it a squeeze before turning away to retrieve his things. They left around the same time Hikaru did, not standing around and hanging out as per usual and instead opting to go home and be with Kota. When he got home however, he found the apartment dark, his boyfriend already asleep, head buried underneath the blankets, and he smiled, nodding contentedly to himself in relief before crawling in next to him.

It took over a week for Yabu's fever to finally break. Hikaru was on the verge of forcing him to go to a proper doctor, medical bills cost be damned. But then, as if in response to his thoughts, Kota started getting better. He still looked miserable, but his temperature dropped down so that it was nearly at his usual, healthy degrees, and he began to eat more and cry less, and Hikaru felt a mountain of worry that he hadn't even realized he had been carrying lift off of his back. Yabu coughed into his pillow, rolling over, his hair positively everywhere and he announced

"I think I should go back to school tomorrow."

"No. You'll just get sick again." Hikaru declared vehemently, handing him antibiotics. "Wait until next week." His boyfriend sent him a look of grudging acceptance and took the pills, swallowing them without protest as he crawled into bed. Hikaru joined him, kissing him gently on the cheek before burying his nose in Kota's hair, and drifting off.

He was woken only a few hours later to the sound of a phone ringing, and Kota shifting in their bed. He groaned, and tried to get comfortable, pulling his still technically sick boyfriend closer. Yabu slapped at his bedside table, finding his phone and looking at the caller ID before grumbling something about 'this idiot', and picking up.

"I was sleeping, what do you want?" Hikaru groaned again, trying to block out the phone call with a pillow. There was a pause, and then Kota sat up a little, obviously trying to wake up, and he said "One: put the dishes in and the soap in and press start, and two: you're going to have to give me more details." Hikaru resigned himself to the fact that this phone call was going to happen and he let his eyes snap open, pulling himself up so that his back was resting on his pillows, and he tried to listen in on what the person on the other side was saying. He managed to make out Takaki's voice, their singer obviously talking about Chinen, saying

"And he has a dance recital coming up as well—" Kota interrupted him, sounding genuinely enthusiastic as he said

"Oh, when is that? We should go." He looked to Hikaru, and Hikaru nodded. He'd be up for going and supporting Takaki's husband. Besides, Daiki was part of the same dance company, if Hikaru was remembering correctly. Of course they would go. Takaki seemed annoyed, grumbling a bit as he said

"Saturday at 6:15. Can I talk, please?" Hikaru smirked a bit at that, still tired and not feeling all that patient. But Kota complied, falling silent. "Anyway, about an hour ago he stormed into the living room and unplugged my stereo—"

"It isn't like your music taste is spectacular." Hikaru burst into giggles at his boyfriend's words, and Yabu slapped him lightly on the chest to shut up. Hikaru did so just in time to hear Takaki retort

"Yabu, your music taste is limited to songs that Hikaru has written, so you don't have much room to talk." Hikaru nearly snorted at that one, trying to stifle his laughter. Kota hit him again, making a noise of objection. Hikaru didn't pay attention to what it was Takaki said next, but it had Yabu asking

"He turned off your stereo because he likes you?" There was a pause. "I don't understand." Hikaru too didn't understand, thoroughly bewildered as he tried to tune back in. Takaki had dropped his snarky tone and was saying honestly

"Just... He told me that he likes me, and I don't know what I should do about it." Hikaru sent Kota a confused glance. Who had confessed to Takaki? Yabu got the message, mouthing back Chinen. Hikaru raised his eyebrows in surprise, Kota shrugging in response and rolling his eyes before turning his attention back to the phone call.

"Well." He paused, obviously thinking seriously about his advice. "We already knew he liked you, so this isn't exactly news." Hikaru heard a shocked exclamation of disbelief come from Takaki's end, and Kota continued. "Yeah. Since the first time we rehearsed at your house. He told us."

"He told you guys?" Takaki still didn't seem to quite believe it. Hikaru didn't blame him. He wouldn't believe it if he hadn't heard it from Chinen's own mouth either. But Kota seemed to be getting impatient.

"So, Takaki, you have two options." He had to stop to cough, his body shaking with it, his throat obviously torn up. Hikaru sat up properly and passed him a cup of water from the bedside table, rubbing his back gently until the hacking stopped. Once he put the phone back to his ear however, he let everything he'd been trying to say come out in a rush. "You can either take the recommended plan and go out with him, or turn him down and face the inevitable awkwardness that will settle every time you're in a room together."

Hikaru stood, taking Kota's now empty glass and going into the kitchen to refill it, just in case he woke up in the night. When he finally returned to their room Yabu was saying a quick

"Thanks. Bye." He set the glass down on the nightstand as Kota ended the call, his boyfriend groaning a bit and tossing the device onto the nightstand.

"What'd he decide to do?" Hikaru asked, crawling back into bed. Yabu looped his arms around Hikaru's waist, snuggling up into his side.

"Nothing." He declared, already sounding dreary. "He's not doing anything. Why does he have these problems at midnight?"


	5. Chapter 5

Kota's statement was contradicted the following morning when—just as Hikaru finished a small pot of soup for his boyfriend's breakfast—there was a knock at the door. He maneuvered it open with his elbow, the pot of soup still in his hands, and he was shocked to find Takaki on the other side. The older man rarely got up this early.

"Who is it?" Kota called blearily from the bedroom, and Hikaru stepped aside to let their friend in, calling back

"Takaki." The older man seemed to be thinking hard about something, and Hikaru wasn't quite sure how concerned he should be. Sometimes Takaki had serious problems, but other times when he had that look on his face it was simply because Inoo had hidden his hair straightener. There was nothing for it but to ask. "What's up?"

"I have a problem. It's my mom." Hikaru felt a pit settling in his stomach at the mention of Takaki's mother. The woman was very intimidating. She was a large part of the reason Takaki had married against his will. He groaned. This sounded like one of those serious problems. They made their way back to the bedroom—Kota needed to hear whatever this was—and as they went, Hikaru asked jokingly

"Are you getting married again, or something?" He busied himself with taking care of his boyfriend, giving him his meal and trying to gauge his temperature with his hand, but his attention was diverted back to their guest when Takaki said

"The opposite, actually." That was the last thing Hikaru had expected to hear. He just stood there in silence as Yabu asked, shocked

"A divorce?" Takaki nodded, sitting down on the edge of the bed, his brows furrowed.

"My mother called me this morning, and offered it to me." Hikaru was stunned. Takaki had done everything in his power in the months leading up to the wedding to get it called off, short of disowning his family. He had been determined to ensure that he would not partake in the ridiculous ceremony, complaining and arguing and strategizing in all waking moments up until the actual ceremony. Hikaru had assumed that if those efforts had failed then Takaki's parents were not going to budge on the matter. Yet it looked like Takaki's efforts had finally paid off, and—despite the rather nasty taste divorce left in Hikaru's throat—he found himself saying

"Congratulations." But Takaki wasn't looking happy. He shook his head at Hikaru's words, frowning.

"I didn't take it. I don't know why, but... She said that she would give me some time to think it over." Hikaru hadn't seen that one coming either. Just how many curveballs was Takaki planning on sending their way this morning? Kota seemed to feel the same way, saying

"Wait. Are you getting divorced, or not?"

"I don't know." Takaki threw himself dramatically across the foot of their bed, whining the phrase out before returning to his previous, more serious tone. "I don't want to be married, of course, that hasn't changed, but Chinen and I are friends, right? I would like to stay friends with him, but if we got a divorce he'd probably be really unhappy with me. Besides, the deal helped his family's company a lot, and if I took that away from him..." Suddenly Hikaru understood. Takaki cared. He cared about Chinen. He cared about their strange and still new relationship, and Hikaru couldn't help but smile. It was nice to see Takaki thinking so seriously about what someone else could need or want. He found himself nodding and saying

"I can see why you're conflicted. This is really a choice of what you would rather live with." All of his musings about Takaki's maturity and depth as a person were cut short however, when the older man stared at him as if he were an idiot and said

"I live with Chinen." Hikaru looked to his boyfriend for help, and Kota swallowed his mouthful of soup to explain.

"No, like would you rather live with staying married, or live with knowing you hurt Chinen's family's company." He cleared his throat. "I'm astounded that you're even having this problem, honestly."

Takaki stared at Yabu shrewdly.

"I feel like that was an insult."

"No, it's just that divorce was all you could talk about a few months ago, and now, you're..." Yabu gestured with his spoon, his sweep encompassing Takaki's body draped across the bed, the gesture finishing his thought for him. Takaki sighed, one hand covering his face, and he said

"You're supposed to be helping, not confusing me more. Stop it." Yabu just went back to his soup. Hikaru was glad to see how much the older man was eating, over half of the pot gone already.

"I don't think we can help you on this one." He found himself saying. "This is something you'll have to figure out yourself." Grumbling slightly, Takaki agreed, and with a thanks for listening to him their friend left. Kota looked up from his soup after the door had shut behind him, and he said

"Thank goodness I have you." Hikaru chuckled.

"Thank goodness neither of us is related to Takaki's mother in any way." Yabu broke out in an amused grin, his eyes swallowed up in his smile, and he nodded. They sat in silence for a little while, Kota finishing his soup and setting the pot aside before saying

"Hey, can I come to the dance recital on Saturday?" Hikaru brushed his boyfriend's bangs out of his eyes, trying to gauge how Kota was feeling. He seemed to be on the mend, what with the enthusiastic way he participated in the conversation earlier, and the fact that he had consumed all of his soup. Hikaru found himself nodding.

"Sure. If you feel up to it." He placed a call to the bar the band usually played at on Saturdays, explaining to the man that—with at least three of them going to this recital—they would not be performing that week. It was a good thing he did too, because around lunchtime he got a call from Inoo, their keyboardist sounding rather distressed as he begged them to come with him to Daiki's dance thing, claiming he needed moral support, although refusing to say what the support was for.

"Now we're just waiting on a call from Yuto, and this ridiculous situation will be complete!" Yabu joked, Hikaru nodding in agreement just as his phone went off again. When he saw the caller ID he could barely believe it.

"I think you cursed us." He declared to his boyfriend, putting the phone up to his ear. "Hey Yuto! What's up?"

"Hey, have you guys heard about that dance recital thing?" Hikaru figured that at this point fate must be trying to tell them something. That was the only explanation.

"Yeah. Takaki and Inoo have both talked about it."

"Oh. Well I was already planning on going, 'cuz Ryosuke is performing—and Dai-chan, obviously—and so I was thinking that if some of the rest of us were going too, then we could all meet up and sit together."

"You want to sit together?" Hikaru looked to Yabu, his boyfriend nodding at once. That sounded good. "Yeah, we should."

"Awesome." He could hear Yuto smiling. "I was thinking we'll meet outside of the front doors to the building...how's half an hour before the show sound?"

"Great! We'll be there." Hikaru declared, and with that they ended the call, Yuto declaring that he would contact the others.

And so that Saturday Hikaru and Yabu found themselves meeting up with the rest of the band just outside the performance venue. Hikaru was already skeptical of this idea. He knew that Kota was well enough to be out and about, but he hadn’t done anything more physical than walk from the kitchen to their bed and back in nearly two weeks, and they would be doing a lot of walking today. Hikaru kept one arm wrapped around Yabu's waist, holding him close, and Yabu let him, but when he spotted their friends he waved and Hikaru saw his eyes crinkle in a huge grin. Perhaps it would be okay.

They all stood around for a few minutes talking animatedly and laughing. Inoo seemed rather unwell. He had brought a bouquet with him—presumably for Daiki—and he was fiddling with the ends of the flower stems, his eyes wide. Hikaru asked him quietly if he was feeling well, but his friend just brushed his question off, exhaling dramatically and squeezing his eyes shut. Hikaru left him be, figuring Inoo didn't want his condition to be made into anything big.

Eventually they made their way inside, and Hikaru led the way, feeling like a mother duck as the rest of the band just naturally fell into step behind him in a line as they traveled throughout the venue, eventually grabbing five seats all together. Hikaru found himself and Yabu rather cut off from the group despite this, Inoo in between them and the other two. While this wouldn't usually cause any barrier, the keyboardist barely spoke, just looking more and more nauseous by the minute. Resigned to being cut out of the conversation, Kota leaned on Hikaru's shoulder a bit, taking his hand and lacing their fingers together. Hikaru couldn't help but smile, leaning into Kota's warmth and looking quietly through the program.

Hikaru's mother duck experience was completed when he and Kota leaned down the aisle to shush the two on the far left of their group, something Takaki had said having caused Yuto to burst out in giggles just as the lights dimmed.

"What?" Takaki seemed in that moment like a small child that thought he knew better than his peers. Yabu lifted his head from its place nestled into Hikaru's neck, and he announced

"It's starting!" And so it was, the curtain pulling open to reveal the first set of dancers, music filling the hall at once. Hikaru nestled into his chair, and he found himself truly enjoying the performance, engrossed in the way the dancers bodies moved. He found, when he looked down the line, that he was perhaps the only one so excited by the performance. Yuto was watching intently, but Inoo kept sighing and fidgeting in his chair, and Takaki was positively dozing off. Kota too was obviously rather uninterested, and by the third group he had fallen asleep, his head propped on Hikaru's shoulder, neck at an awkward angle.

Chinen finally made an appearance right at the beginning of the second half, and he looked a little bit bigger standing up there under the spotlight all alone. He was very graceful, his dance a tricky looking ballet routine full of complicated chains of spins. Chinen commanded the room's attention, and once he had finished he took a bow, a huge smile on his face. Hikaru found himself grinning. The kid was amazing.

Daiki didn't come on until the very end, but it was worth the wait. He did a duet with Yamada, a hip hop routine. The two of them worked well together, exploding with energy, their movements precise and sharp. Hikaru could see just how much Yamada loved to dance, his passion radiating out of his every move. Daiki was a joy to watch, balancing out Yamada's serious air with one of pure joy, a smile on his face. He looked like he was having a blast.

Hikaru nearly woke Yabu up, but just as he decided against it the performance ended, and Yuto let out a loud whoop, jumping up from his seat. Hikaru whipped his head around automatically prepared to hush his drummer, but it was too late. The noise startled Kota, and he jerked his head up, waking with a start. Hikaru would have been annoyed, but then the lights came on, the event over, and everyone began getting to their feet. They were soon joined by the performers, and Hikaru found himself passing out hugs and congratulations and words of praise. He caught Yamada, introducing himself and complimenting the small young man on his performance. He was so proud of his friends.

He was in the middle of a conversation with Daiki when Inoo cut in, his voice strangely high and warped, the casual phrase destroyed as he said

"Hey, Daiki?" Their little companion turned away from Hikaru at once, visibly concerned for Inoo as he said

"What is it? You okay?" Inoo looked like he just might vomit all over his shoes.

"Can we... Go talk somewhere?" Daiki nodded, letting Inoo lead him through the crowd and out of the building completely. Hikaru was bewildered, but Chinen seemed to know what was happening, whispering hurriedly to Takaki, both of their eyes wide. Hikaru turned to Kota, but his boyfriend just shrugged, his head slightly bowed, obviously not quite awake still. So Hikaru asked

"What was that about?"

"We have reason to believe that Inoo is confessing to Daiki. Right now." Takaki announced, and Hikaru felt his eyes go wide in disbelief. Inoo hadn't ever indicated that he was through pining over Daiki and had made the decision to take the leap and confess. But then Hikaru remembered the way his friend had insisted that he come—for moral support. But still...

"Now?"

"We have to follow them!" Yuto announced, dragging Yamada in the direction Daiki and Inoo had left. The rest followed them, Hikaru included. Kota looked excited, and Hikaru had to admit he was looking forward to this. They stopped around the corner, spotting their friends and peeking around the edge with Yuto and Yamada. Chinen and Takaki were bold enough to go and hide in the bushes closer to where Daiki and Inoo were standing.

"What's up?" Daiki was completely unaware of what was about to happen, his eyes wide and innocent and a little concerned. Inoo took a deep breath.

"I'm...well, I wanted to tell you something." Yabu squeezed Hikaru's hand extra tightly. This was it! Daiki however, wasn't so excited, obviously starting to get a touch exasperated with the unexplained dramatics.

"Is it something bad? Because you're sort of acting like someone died." Inoo giggled, but it was a little weird sounding. The nerves were fighting for control.

"Not quite." Inoo grew quiet, looking at his feet, his usual careless grin slipping off of his face. For a second Hikaru thought he was going to chicken out. "I wrote down what I was going to tell you, but now you're right in front of me, and... I forgot it." Yuto audibly whacked himself over Inoo's idiotic actions, and Yamada kicked him to make him shut up. Daiki meanwhile, was obviously trying to be a good friend, asking patiently

"Did you have a message for me or something? Could we find the paper you wrote on?" Yabu cringed, leaning in, his lips right by Hikaru's ear, and he whispered

"This is painful." Hikaru nodded in agreement. Inoo needed to get on with it. Inoo apparently was in agreement to their sentiment, saying

"It's nothing like that, it's just...Ah, damn it. I'll just say it." But then he fell silent. For a good thirty seconds he just stood there, staring at Daiki. Daiki looked up at him, holding the bouquet Inoo had given him and waiting patiently, obviously bewildered by his friend's strange behavior. But then Inoo started, his confession spilling out of him in a rush. "Ever since I met you, really, I've known that I thought you were cute, and I wanted to hug you. That turned into wanting to kiss you, and now I want to hold your hand and go on dates with you, and fight with you, and everything. With you. I really, really like you Daiki." Yabu cooed softly at the elaborate confession, but then Daiki didn't respond, just staring at Inoo wide eyed. Inoo exhaled anxiously, his eyes desperately searching Daiki's face, and he pleaded

"Could you say something?"

"R-right." Daiki looked shocked. "I just..." He laughed to himself, as if mocking his own ignorance. "I didn't know." It was Yamada's turn to slap himself, Yuto letting out a tiny squeak in surprise as the object of his affections whacked his forehead. Inoo too seemed surprised.

"Really? I thought I was painfully obvious." Daiki just nodded, asking tentatively

"Was all that the stuff you'd written down?" Inoo shrugged and nodded.

"More or less." Another silence stretched out between them, and Hikaru was getting ready to interrupt it with a lame joke when Daiki finally broke out in a grin and looked up at Inoo, saying

"Inoo, would you like to go on a date with me?"

"Oh thank goodness." Yabu murmured, as Inoo stuttered out a quick

"I... What?"

"You didn't seem like you were going to ask, so I figured I would do it." Daiki explained offhandedly, barely getting the words out before Inoo was hugging him.

"Can we quit hiding now?" Yuto whispered, and Yamada shrugged. Yabu poked at the younger guy.

"Go on. You're good at shouting." Yuto sent Yabu a quick look, and he must have been convicted because he suddenly yelled

"Yes!" They all stepped out from around the corner, and Daiki and Inoo broke their hug embarrassedly, Inoo burying his face in his hands. Daiki was obviously surprised, looking at them all.

"Why...How long have you been...?"

"We've been waiting for months for this to happen, do you think we'd miss it?" Yabu's words were sassy, but he was back to leaning into Hikaru's side, his voice keeping a yawn at bay. Daiki however, turned to Inoo, his eyebrows raised.

"Months? How many months?"

"I'm not answering that." Inoo declared. Hikaru couldn't help but laugh at the determination on Inoo's face. As if he had any shred of dignity left when it came to his crush on Daiki. They all talked and joked and teased Inoo, the conversation light until Chinen suddenly turned to the group and said

"Could someone take me to the hospital?" Hikaru was immediately concerned.

"Why? Are you okay?" Had the little guy hurt himself during his routine? He looked okay.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, but my friend is there and I want to go visit him." Oh. That wasn't good. But Hikaru was relieved that Chinen himself wasn't hurt. Yamada stole his attention, asking Chinen a few more questions. Hikaru would have been happy to take Chinen to the hospital, except that he didn't own a vehicle, and Kota was starting to shiver, his body feeling a little too heavy on Hikaru's shoulder for Hikaru's liking. Luckily Takaki offered, and after quick _'good bye'_s and some hugs they left. Hikaru saw the opportunity and declared that he needed to take Yabu home as well, his boyfriend barely protesting as they took off on the long walk back to their apartment.


	6. Chapter 6

Yabu barely lasted four blocks. He was gripping Hikaru's hand tight, his whole body sagging, his legs obviously weak from lack of use the past twelve days. It was all too apparent that his body was simply not up for the level of stress this venture was putting on it, and Hikaru found himself stopping and gesturing to his back.

"Hop on." His boyfriend looked at him reproachfully, silently refusing to budge. Hikaru took his hand, bending his knees to make it easier for the taller man to get on, and he said "C'mon Kota." Yabu sighed, slowly climbing on, his long arms wrapping themselves around Hikaru's neck loosely, palms flat against his shoulders. Hikaru wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's thighs, holding him up, and after getting situated—and once he was sure Kota wouldn't slip or fall off—he started walking again. After a few steps Yabu relaxed, his head leaning into Hikaru's shoulder, and Hikaru could feel his jaw moving against his back as Yabu said

"Poor Inoo-chan had such a hard time tonight." Hikaru smiled at the thought. Inoo had been a flustered, terrified mess.

"Yeah. It's a good thing it all worked out well for him though, isn't it?" Yabu made an indistinct noise of agreement, turning his head and resting his chin on Hikaru's shoulder. Hikaru could feel his eyes, he knew Kota was searching his face, and he heard every intake of breath, felt his boyfriend's chest expand and contract as he breathed. It felt nice.

"He did better than us, at least." Yabu said, and Hikaru broke out in a huge smile at the memory.

"Hey! I had an amazing confession. It wasn't my fault you misinterpreted everything! My plan was flawless!" He defended himself proudly, hitching Yabu up just a little bit higher on his back. Yabu chuckled, his voice warm in Hikaru's ear.

"Your plan was a mess Hikaru. I had no idea—I thought you were rejecting me before I'd even gotten the chance to confess! What made you think that coming up to me and saying—and I quote: 'I'm in love with your father's son'—was a good idea?"

"It was witty!" Hikaru retorted playfully. Yabu scoffed.

"It didn't make any sense. Perhaps if I was an only child or something it could have worked. I thought you were in love with my brother!"

"I'd only met Koichi a handful of times!" Hikaru objected. "Why would I have fallen for him? And besides—" he glanced back at Yabu, raining an eyebrow. "—didn't Koichi have a girlfriend at that point?" Yabu pouted.

"I don't remember about my brother's dating history." He paused, getting back to the topic at hand. "But when you used that backwards phrasing, and didn't specifically say my name I was so upset!" Hikaru nodded, remembering the whole thing. He had been so excited about his confession—he'd sat up every night the week before in preparation, planning it all out. And he could remember the horror sinking in as after he'd said those words Kota had begun to cry, his face all splotchy and red.

"You ran away." Hikaru reminded him. "You took off crying and I had to chase you, and you yelled at me!" It was Yabu's turn to defend himself.

"I was embarrassed and upset! And you were an idiot!"

"I'd thought you would understand. I remember wondering why you were so unhappy. I thought that even if you didn't return my feelings, being told you were loved was a positive thing." He chuckled. "I was so confused."

"I was too. We were both idiots." Yabu was chuckling with him, gripping onto his shirt, and Hikaru felt his boyfriend's lips press to the side of his neck, kissing him there. Hikaru smiled, blushing a bit. There was a few moments of silence, and then Kota murmured "It's a good thing an idiot like me has an idiot like you. We'd be a mess without each other."

"Agreed." Hikaru muttered. "I can barely remember life without you." Yabu fell silent, suddenly growing rather serious.

"It's been...like ten years." Hikaru thought back, surprised by the statement. But he realized Kota was right. They had been kids, barely teenagers when they'd met, and though they hadn't fallen in love right away, Hikaru had always known that Kota was different. At the beginning he hadn't necessarily thought it would be a good different, but that had quickly changed. It had made sense to go to the same high school, and then afterwards when Kota had decided to move for university Hikaru had come with him, starting up his ramen stand and putting a down payment on a little apartment. They had always been together, it seemed.

A silence stretched between them, Hikaru musing over their years together. But then out of the emptiness, Yabu said rather blearily, as if he was in the process of falling asleep

"I want a kid like Yuto." Hikaru stopped walking, shifting his eyes to try and look at his boyfriend, giving him his full attention. Yabu tilted his head back in a carefree manner, continuing earnestly "I mean, in the future. Yuto's a great kid. I'd like to have a child like him someday." Hikaru considered this in silence for a few moments. Yabu hadn't ever really talked much about children. The statement took him aback. Not that Kota was wrong. He too would be happy to have a son as great as Yuto. He felt the need to respond, so he said

"Yes, Yuto is a child parents can be proud of." Hikaru had always loved kids, he'd always pictured himself as a father, but when he'd fallen in love with Kota he'd had to accept that it was a reality that was simply unrealistic to expect. He had never asked Yabu about children, partially because he felt that it was a step that would only come after marriage, but even more so because he hadn't wanted to imply in any way that their relationship was lacking or unfulfilling for him. He loved Kota, and as long as he had him, he figured he could do without having children.

Yet apparently Kota wanted kids too—on some level—and Hikaru's mind was suddenly reeling with all of the many different facets of the concept of the two of them with children. The notion of having kids badgered his thoughts as they made their way to the train station, and he silently thought about it as they rode the train all the way back home, Kota falling asleep on his shoulder, blissfully unaware of Hikaru's over active mind. Once they had gotten off at their stop and had began the last bit of their walk home however, Yabu seemed to take notice of Hikaru's silence, his brows furrowing in concern, and he said

"Hika, what's wrong?" Hikaru blinked in surprise at the wording.

"Nothing's wrong Kota, everything's fine."

"Something's on your mind. You look like you're over thinking something." Hikaru looked over at his boyfriend, their forms bathed in a yellow glow from the closest streetlight, and he tried to come up with a way to express to Yabu just how much he cared for him. Just how much he wanted what was best for him, regardless of anything else. He expressed it the only way he knew how.

"I just love you. That's all." Yabu smiled contentedly at him, and he said quietly

"I love you too." Hikaru nodded, assured and content, and they continued on their way home. And though nothing had been solved or discussed he knew that it would all work out. Because when the time came for them to discuss having children, they would be able to do it together, and regardless of what the final decision was it would be okay, because they had each other.

"Our anniversary is coming up you know." He reminded his boyfriend. Kota smiled.

"Coming up? It's still a few months away."

"Well maybe we should start planning for it. We could do something special."

"I guess—" Yabu yawned loudly in his ear, taking his hand and swinging them gently between their bodies as they walked. "—we could. But why? What's so special about this one?" Hikaru shrugged, and Kota chuckled affectionately, obviously assuming that he was just speaking train of thought, without any true purpose or decided meaning behind his words. It was at that point that their apartment building came into view, and Yabu pointed with his free hand, announcing

"There it is!" He sounded so happy to see the place, its wholly uninteresting and plain form bringing a smile to his lips, and he tacked on "Home." They walked for the most part in silence the rest of the way there. Hikaru had a bit of difficulty unlocking their front door, the keys jangling loud in the night, hard to make out in the moonlight. But eventually it was pushed open and they tumbled inside, Yabu breathing a sigh of relief as he stepped over the threshold. They took off their shoes at the doorway, leaning on each other for balance, and then they made a beeline for the bedroom, Kota crashing into the mattress face first. Hikaru shook him gently, coaxing

"C'mon, get up. You have to at least get out of those clothes before bed." Yabu grunted in response, unmoving. "I'll help you." Hikaru offered, and slowly Yabu raised himself to a sitting position, lifting his arms and allowing Hikaru to peel his shirt off of him.

"C'mere." Yabu muttered, and Hikaru leaned in, hands on his knees, and his boyfriend wrapped his lanky arms around his neck, pulling him down for a kiss. They kissed for a little while, lazy kisses that left Hikaru feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Yabu hummed appreciatively as Hikaru began fiddling with his jeans zipper, kicking off his pants swiftly. He wasn't so pleased however, when Hikaru pulled away and dug through his dresser, tossing him a pair of pajama pants.

"Not tonight; you're already exhausted. Besides, I have to get things set up for the ramen stand. I need to start another pot of broth tonight." Hikaru explained. Kota looked genuinely upset, and Hikaru immediately felt apologetic.

"But we haven't in two whole weeks." Yabu complained.

"You were sick." He reminded the older man.

"But still..." Yabu protested, and Hikaru nodded.

"I know. I'm sorry. But I know I won't get up after, and I need to do my job. I've been skipping a lot these past weeks, and we need to pay our bills." He pressed a kiss to Yabu's forehead, and then trailed them down his jaw line to his lips. "In the morning?" He murmured, and Kota nodded, saying jokingly

"Curse you and your logic and planning." Hikaru couldn't help but grin at that, and together they brushed their teeth, Hikaru tucking his boyfriend into bed. Yabu was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, exhausted from their exciting day. Hikaru then wandered into the kitchen, where instead of starting a new pot of broth as he had told Kota he'd needed to do, he got out the binder he used to write his songs in, and he pulled out a fresh page. Their anniversary was coming up, and he wanted to make it their most memorable one yet. He pulled out a pencil, labeling the page simply as proposal. Just seeing the word made his heart best faster in his chest, anticipation building, and he stared at the blank page for a minute or two, letting the notion sink in before picking the pencil back up, and beginning to write.

He sat there late into the night, brainstorming ideas and scribbling things out and it was only once he had four extremely messy pages of a wide variety concepts that he set his pencil back down. By that point his eyes were itching with exhaustion, his brain foggy with the need to sleep, and he was sure that when he went back over his notes again he wouldn't be able to understand half of what they said, but he honestly didn't really care. At least not right now. He may he kicking himself in the morning.

He hid the pages at the back of his binder, behind a few half completed ballads, and an attempt at a keyboard solo piece for Inoo, knowing Kota would be too lazy to rifle through those. He slid the binder back onto its place on their bookshelf and trudged into their bedroom, tearing his clothes off and slipping on a fresh pair of underwear before climbing into bed. Kota had curled up with his back to Hikaru, so he just threw an arm over his boyfriend's shoulders, pressing himself up against him from behind and burying his nose in Yabu's neck. The older man didn't move, years of sleeping like this having long since made him impervious to any surprise nighttime cuddling, and before Hikaru knew it, he too had passed out.


	7. Chapter 7

Hikaru woke to kisses being trailed down his neck, the weight of a familiar body hovering over him, knobby knees digging into the mattress on either side of his hips, and he cracked his eyes open with a chuckle. Kota lifted his head a bit, taking his lips away from their spot on his neck to kiss him, humming appreciatively as Hikaru kissed back, and Hikaru couldn't help the giggles that fell out of his mouth once Kota had pulled away.

"Good morning." He said, raising his head to look at his boyfriend properly. Kota had already stripped down to his underwear, and he sat back on Hikaru's hips, his arms propping him up on either side of Hikaru's chest.

"You promised." Kota said, and he looked so cute, pouting there, propped up on top of him like that, his bare chest lit up by the morning sun, his eyes begging, betraying his want, that Hikaru found himself giving in. He propped his body up on one arm and raised himself up to kiss his boyfriend, and Kota grinned into the kiss enthusiastically, scrambling to adjust their position to make it more comfortable. They didn't break this kiss until Hikaru was out of breath, his chest heaving, and he took a second to breathe, smirking and saying

"I _did_ promise." Before scooping Kota up in his arms suddenly, making the older man squeal in surprise as he pressed kisses all down his chest, warm laughter bubbling up his throat.

Hikaru and Yabu had a late breakfast that morning, consisting of leftover ramen and eggs and coffee, and they had just sat down to eat when Yabu got a phone call, the older man having to run back to their bedroom and scoop the device up from where it had crashed to the floor. When he came back he put the person on the other end on speaker phone, so Hikaru could listen in, and they could still eat.

"Okay, go." Yabu said, and from the other side there was a long, shrill squeal, and Hikaru covered his ears, glaring at the loud object in surprise. But then the noise was explained when Inoo's voice filtered into the room, saying

"I know it's silly, but I can't decide what to wear! And I look like a mess because I didn't get any sleep last night." Oh. It was just Inoo, freaking out about his first date with the boy of his dreams.

"You didn't sleep?" Yabu asked.

"No! I was too excited." Inoo announced. "I tried getting Takaki to help me last night, but that idiot ignored me."

"Right. Well he had a busy night, didn't he?" Hikaru said, suddenly remembering the impromptu hospital trip their friends had been embarking on when they had left the dance recital the night before. "Do you know what ever happened with Chinen's friend?"

"Nope." Inoo declared, and there was a pause before he said "But you need to help me! Dai-chan's coming to pick me up in two hours, and I'm still without clothing!"

"He'd probably like it best if you just stayed naked." Hikaru declared, and Inoo made a choking noise, Kota bursting out in a fit of giggles.

"Hikaru! Not helping!" Inoo finally said after a few moments, his voice strained.

"Hey, it's an option." Hikaru declared, slurping some noodles.

"No."

"Where are you guys going?" Yabu asked, cutting into Hikaru's teasing. Inoo sounded relieved as he responded

"The mall. I know it's silly to be nervous; we're just hanging out like we usually do. But this time it has this big label on it, and there are feelings involved and stuff and I just...ugh!"

"Okay." Yabu sounded like he was calming a distressed animal. "Well since it's a casual date I think your usual everyday type clothes are fine. Perhaps if he's given you anything you could wear that, as a little sentimental token. Pick things you like."

"It's not like he hasn't seen every outfit you own anyway." Hikaru tacked on. Inoo let out a big sigh, the exhale loud in the receiver. But another thought had occurred to Hikaru. "Have you even showered and stuff yet?"

"Crap!" Inoo shouted, and Hikaru laughed as their keyboardist hung up abruptly, the line going dead.

"Poor Inoo." Yabu said with a chuckle. Hikaru nodded in agreement, clearing his place at the table. He took Kota's empty dishes, his boyfriend giving him a nod of thanks, and he said

"What do you want to do today?" Yabu shrugged, and then Hikaru froze, a grin coming over his face as the epiphany hit him. "I just had the best idea." It was too. It was a great way to spend their Sunday before life hit them with work and school.

"We should stalk their date!"

"Stalk?" Kota asked, and Hikaru waved his hand airily.

"Follow. Whatever." Yabu was laughing again, but Hikaru was completely serious. "We could invite the others. It'll be great."

"Sure. If you want to, Hika." Yabu agreed, and they called up Yuto and Takaki. Yuto asking if he could bring his new boyfriend, Yamada along. And so the group of five agreed to meet up in the food court of the mall right before Daiki and Inoo's date was supposed to start. Yabu wandered into the bathroom to take a shower, and Hikaru began searching through their closets for good things to use as a disguise. He quickly realized that anything from their everyday wear would simply not suffice, instead pulling out their bin of Halloween costumes and picking through the bits and bobs in there, until he found a long fake beard from when he had been Gandalf from Lord of the Rings two years ago, and he smiled. Perfect.

He quickly pieced the rest of his outfit together as Kota prepared to go out, the beard joined by a floppy hat, sunglasses, and a huge bulky coat that Yabu had worn the year he'd been a flasher for Halloween. He grinned in satisfaction at his handiwork, putting the whole get up on and jumping out from around a corner with a shout. Yabu dropped his phone and burst out laughing when he caught sight of him, and Hikaru pouted, crossing his arms over his beard.

"Hikaru, that's...." Yabu looked stunned. "...ridiculous." Hikaru cocked and eyebrow, fingering the end of his beard thoughtfully, and he pulled off his sunglasses as he said

"Don't try to pretend you don't like it. If I'm remembering correctly―at Takaki's Halloween party, the one with the bat theme two years ago―you could barely keep your hands off of this beard." He stepped closer, saying quietly "You remember what we did with it after the party, don't you, Kota?" Yabu was bright red at the memory, and he was looking at the beard a little differently, touching it rather reverently as he said

"This is the same one?" Hikaru smirked, nodding. "Oh."

"I have some stuff for you too, Kota!" Hikaru declared, gesturing to where he'd lain out a bikini top, rainbow hot shorts, a stick on mustache, and a purple wig. Yabu glanced over at the disguise, his eyes growing wide, and he said suddenly

"We don't have the time for that now! We have to go, or we'll miss the train!" Hikaru barely had time to protest before Kota was dragging him out the door, and off to their destination. Due to Yabu's insistence that they hurry, they got there half an hour before the designated meet up time. Luckily, Yuto arrived with Yamada not five minutes after they had. The drummer burst out laughing as he spotted them, doubling over a bit as his companion looked at him confused, obviously not understanding until Hikaru and Yabu came over. Yamada looked at Hikaru wide eyed, mouth slightly agape.

"Hey! Where are your disguises?" Hikaru asked, his question completely ignored in favor of Yuto falling to the floor, howling with laughter, his arms clutching his stomach. Hikaru frowned, and Yabu rubbed his back comfortingly in light of his public mocking. Yamada just looked down at the lanky young man curled up on the mall food court floor and smiled affectionately.

"Get up! You're going to attract a lot of attention!" Hikaru whispered sharply, and Yuto sputtered out something about Hikaru being the attention grabbing one, but he pulled himself to his feet, and they all took a table as they waited for the games to begin.

"How much d'you wanna bet Takaki's late?" Yabu asked, and Yuto shook his head.

"If anything I bet he's early. He probably doesn't want to be at home right now." Yamada nodded in agreement. Yabu cocked his head in confusion.

"Why?"

"Did you guys not hear? Takaki and Chinen have a guest." Yuto declared, much to Hikaru's surprise.

"No, what happened? Last we heard they were going off to the hospital to visit some friend of Chinen’s." Hikaru asked. Yuto immediately launched into the story.

"Okay, so firstly, Chinen's friend is actually Keito's boyfriend. D'you remember him, he came to that gig when Yabu was sick. Ryutaro?" Hikaru nodded. He remembered this person. Kota just shrugged; he'd never met Ryu. "Keito filled me in on everything last night." Yuto explained. "Apparently his house burned down, and―"

"Not his whole house! Just his kitchen!" Yamada interrupted. Yuto shrugged.

"So his kitchen burned down, and no one was hurt or anything, but he needed a place to stay for a while, and as he and Chinen are childhood friends, Chinen offered to let him stay with them until his house is fixed."

"Wait. He's Keito's boyfriend. Why didn't Keito have him come stay at his house?" Hikaru asked. Yuto sighed.

"Keito actually offered, but Ryu's parents won't let him, since he's still in high school. Something about preserving his innocence or whatever, as if out of the two of them_ Keito_ was the one with the least pure intentions." Yamada snorted a bit at that, and Yuto grinned. "I guess since Chinen's just a friend, and they know him pretty well, they were more comfortable with him going with Takaki and Chii."

"But Ryutaro's not really happy about Chinen's whole arranged marriage situation, and he's not shy about admitting it either, so I could understand if Takaki was wanting to escape his presence for a little while." Yamada tacked on, and Hikaru nodded. He would be really frustrated if some important person in Kota's life didn't approve of him, and while Takaki's relationship with Chinen was completely different from his own, it would still be difficult to live with someone who not only disliked you, but was friends with your roommate. Hikaru was feeling less sympathetic however, when the first thing Takaki did once he'd joined them was to turn to Hikaru and say

"Oh my god, you look like an idiot."

"Hello to you too." Hikaru said haughtily, adjusting his hat so that it covered his eyes a bit better. Takaki blinked at him incredulously before turning to Kota, asking

"Yabu, how could you let your boyfriend out of the house looking like that?"

"It's not...too bad." Hikaru grinned at his boyfriend's defense of his disguise, very aware that it was simply because of the residual affection he had for the beard, as was proven in the way he fingered the end of it. The others stared at him, horrified, and for a minute Hikaru thought they had figured the reason behind Yabu's complacency out, but then Takaki said

"Yabu, if you let Hikaru grow facial hair I swear―"

"It's them!" Yamada's words cut Takaki off, much to Hikaru's relief, and the younger man pointed to where, sure enough, Inoo and Daiki were entering the mall together. Luckily it looked as if Inoo had managed to squeeze in that shower Hikaru had reminded him off, and the group watched as they passed by, their pinky fingers linked cutely by their sides. They wandered through the mall, Yabu falling into step naturally next to Hikaru, leading the group at a safe distance behind the couple.

Daiki and Inoo wandered the mall, just flitting from shop to shop and generally acting cutesy, giggling excessively. They held hands and kissed each other's cheeks and took pictures and just acted overall like two lovesick fools. It was really precious, and it reminded Hikaru a little bit of the way he had felt when he and Kota had first gotten together. As if the other person was perfect in every way. As if they were this completing piece that you didn't know you'd needed until you had found it. He smiled to himself, giving Kota's hand a little squeeze.

Yamada and Yuto too seemed to be feeling like this, the two boys barely paying attention to Inoo and Daiki, instead completely wrapped up in each other. Only Takaki seemed unaffected by the overly cheesy atmosphere, the older man grumbling about it and sighing. He acted just generally impatient most of the event, and Hikaru caught him spacing out a few times, his thoughts obviously somewhere else. Hikaru nearly asked him about Chinen, and how his whole marriage thing was going with the petite dancer, when all of a sudden everyone was panicking, scattering throughout the shop they were all currently in, and after a moment Hikaru realized why.

Daiki and Inoo were headed straight toward him, still unaware of the fact that they were about to run into an accidental ambush. Hikaru looked around frantically for a moment, but it was too late, and he turned to find both Inoo and Daiki staring right at him. Crap! He froze, just looking back, and to his relief they blinked and looked away, obviously not having recognized him. He was about to let out a shout of pride at the success of his disguise when Yabu grabbed him by the arm and tugged him behind a rack of coats, the perfect camouflage. The two of them stayed immersed in the coats until Daiki and Inoo left the store, heading for the exit. It wasn't until Hikaru's group of makeshift spies were also out of the mall that they breathed a sigh of relief, Yuto announcing

"Mission accomplished! We did it!" Hikaru was feeling very proud of himself after that last close call, and he tacked on

"And thanks to my disguise, we didn't get caught." The others brushed off his self praise, but as they all parted ways, Yabu asked quietly

"D'you think when we get home we could keep the beard out a little bit longer? I want to put it to better use." Hikaru felt a tingle of excitement run down his spine. This disguise was an amazing idea.


	8. Chapter 8

Hikaru woke the next morning to Yabu hunched over their calendar, muttering curses as his eyes scanned the page. He yawned, kicking the sheets aside and sat up, his eyes still bleary with sleep as he asked

"What is it, Kota?"

"Ugh. Look!" The older man sat down next to him on the bed, laying the calendar out on the sheets, and he pointed to one of the little boxes.

"This is today." He said, already sounding distressed. "Look at this week!" Hikaru immediately saw the problem. Kota had two exams tomorrow and three more that Thursday. And he'd been out sick the past few classes and had missed quite a bit of school. "I haven't been keeping track of the schedule at all; I'm so behind!" Kota whined, hiding his face in Hikaru's shoulder. Hikaru nodded, rubbing circles on Kota's back right between his shoulder blades comfortingly. It was a difficult situation.

"Well the only thing to do is prepare yourself as best you can. You have all of today, except for band rehearsal at Takaki's, to get ready for these two—" He pointed to the little square on the calendar representing that Tuesday. "—and then you can come home after those are done and work towards preparing for those three you have on Thursday." Yabu sighed, lifting his head from Hikaru's shoulder.

"You're right." He announced, and Hikaru kissed him, saying playfully

"Of course I am." Yabu pulled himself to his feet, pattering into their tiny living space where his desk was situated, and Hikaru looked over their calendar leisurely as he tried to wake up properly. His eyes caught on a square circled in black marker ink, and it took him a moment to read Kota's sloppy handwriting. _Yuto's birthday!_ Oh, that was next week! They should do _something_. He started trying to come up with some good ideas, and as he thought he got to work making breakfast, haphazardly balancing Kota's meal on top of an open textbook, his boyfriend already completely focused on catching himself up in his classes. Hikaru meanwhile, wanting to stay out of his way and not be a bother found himself snatching his binder and leaving the apartment, walking to a cafe in their neighborhood to work on his proposal ideas. Things were coming along pretty well, and while he wasn't ready to propose just yet, he had a couple of ideas that he really liked. And so he sat down in a corner table and got to work fleshing them out and narrowing his ideas down, trying to conceptualize how the whole thing would work, a buzzing, slightly nervous excitement in his chest.

He worked until an hour before they both had to be at Takaki's there in the cafe, returning back home to drag Yabu away from his textbooks and shove a guitar in his hands, forcing him out the door with promises that rehearsal would be quick. Luckily for them it was, Yuto and Inoo also having exams to study for that week, and so after barely an hour and a half they were back out the door and on their way home. Kota returned to his desk as soon as they got through the door, and Hikaru decided to get everything ready for his ramen stand. He ladled out a huge bowl of the soup for Kota, and gave his boyfriend a quick kiss on the top of the head before leaving again to work. It was admittedly really nice to be going back out to sell ramen. He had always loved his job, and he hadn't realized how much he had missed it over the past few weeks. He smiled, happy to just be doing what he wanted to do, as he set up his stand and got to work.

That night was hectic. It seemed that his absence had been noticed by many of the hundreds of people passing through that area of town in the evenings, and he had quite a few new customers drop by just to say that they had been worried when he had been gone. It took him by surprise, but he was genuinely touched by how many people told him that they were glad he was back. His regular customers were even more kind, plopping down at the stand with huge smiles and ordering ridiculously large quantities of food, staying late and chatting with him about everything that had happened in their lives in his absence. Some, in turn would ask about where he had been, and when he told them about having to stay home and take care of Kota, they would clap him on the shoulder, or smile, and often buy another beer or bowl of ramen. A couple of them even asked if he'd set the date for the wedding yet.

"You should at least get the ring." One, rather drunk man in his late thirties said, in between bites. "That way if the perfect moment comes up, you're ready."

"Yeah! Besides, sometimes it takes a while to get it fitted in the right size." His companion chipped in, as he loosened his tie. "You don't want to wait too long." Hikaru thought about this advice. It did make sense. Regardless though, he wouldn't be able to go and look at rings that night. But perhaps sometime soon.

That night he worked long and hard, extremely busy with customers, and his feet hurt from standing for so long, his eyes itching with tiredness, but he kept at it, joking with the customers and thanking each and every one as they left. He couldn't remember ever being this busy before, and when it hit the usual time that he would begin to pack up, and two new customers sat down, he figured he could work a bit longer. But then a bit turned into an hour, and that hour turned into three, and before he knew it the sun was beginning to stain the sky with streaks of pink and gold, and day was beginning. It was then that he decided to call it a night, and he wearily packed up and trudged home, exhausted but happy.

He pushed open the door to find that Kota had—thankfully—at least managed to fall asleep in bed, a book open on his chest, the pages all bent from its unorthodox use. Hikaru gently removed it, setting it on his bedside table before crawling under the covers. He'd shower in the morning. Within moments he was asleep. He didn't stay that way however. Kota's alarm started going off two hours after his head hit the pillow, and he groaned, feeling the weariness all the way to his bones as he sat up, a huge yawn encompassing his entire face. He opened his eyes properly to see Kota blinking blearily over at him, and the older man asked

"When did you get home Hika?" Hikaru just responded with an indistinguishable grunt, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend from behind, pressing his chest to Kota's back and hanging his head over a bony shoulder. Yabu sighed. "That's no good. You shouldn't work too hard. You know it's not going to be a big problem if we're a little behind for a bit. My parents have some money set aside if we ever get into a tight spot." He sighed when Hikaru didn't respond. "I just don't want you working yourself too hard because of me."

"It's fine Kota." Hikaru muttered, not ever liking it when Yabu's family's money was brought up. He knew it was a really lovely thing, and he knew that once Kota was out of school and had a job expenses wouldn't be a problem. But he was able to support them. He was an adult. He could take care of the two of them, and he wanted to be able to show that to Kota—and his family. Besides— "You know I like to work." He added. Yabu turned around, leaning in so that their foreheads were touching.

"Just remember, not too hard." He murmured, smiling before tilting his head in for a kiss. Hikaru leaned into it, wanting to just wrap himself around Kota and fall back into their bed. But then after a moment Kota pulled away, swinging himself up and out of bed. It was then that Hikaru suddenly remembered that today was a busy day for his boyfriend.

"You have exams today, right? Two of them." Yabu nodded, yawning and slipping on a pair of jeans.

"It may be a complete disaster, but at this point I can't do much else about it." He announced, trudging into the kitchen to get himself some coffee. He came back with a steaming mug in one hand and a textbook in another, staring intently at the page as he sipped at his drink, his face screwing up at the taste. "We're out of sugar." He announced, and Hikaru just watched from the bed, exhausted and half asleep still, as Kota packed up his school bag and got ready for the day. Yabu slung his backpack over his shoulder and grinned fondly down at him, patting him gently on the top of his head as he said

"Go back to sleep Hika. If you're still asleep when I get back then I'll wake you up, okay?" Hikaru yawned, and nodded, giving in.

"Okay." He looked up at his boyfriend. "Good luck today." He reached up for the hand that had slid down to his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "I love you."

"I love you too, sleepyhead." Yabu said, grinning, and Hikaru watched as Kota slipped out of the room, listening as he heard the front door opening. He was about to flop back into the mattress when his eyes caught on their calendar, and he cursed. He hadn't come up with anything for Yuto's birthday, and he honestly didn't have time to plan anything. Grumbling a bit, he pulled out his phone, finding Inoo in his contacts and calling him. Inoo usually had good ideas. His friend answered on the third ring, sounding as if he too had just woken up.

"Why are you disturbing the peace?" Inoo whispered, and Hikaru smiled at his dramatic phrasing.

"I need your help." He declared. Inoo groaned. In the background, Hikaru heard Daiki grumble

"Tell them to go away." Hikaru whistled.

"Inoo, are you having a slumber party with your new boyfriend?" He asked, sing-songing the question suggestively.

"No." Inoo declared, his denial disproved by a voice that was quite clearly Daiki, the small man's voice throaty, as though he had just woken up, saying

"Kei, who're you talking too? Tell them that they woke us up, and they shouldn't call people so early in the morning." Inoo cursed, and Hikaru laughed.

"Tell Daiki I'm sorry." He said, listening as Inoo relayed the message. Resigned, Inoo finally asked

"What's up?" Hikaru launched into it.

"Well, Yuto's birthday is coming up. It's a week from today, and while I know we couldn't get together on his actual birthday, I was hoping maybe this weekend or sometime we could get the band and maybe some friends—like Daiki, and his new boyfriend Yamada, and Keito or whomever—and celebrate somehow."

"That sounds good. Yuto would love it." Inoo agreed. Hikaru nodded.

"Yeah, but I don't know what we could do, and I honestly have too much on my plate this week to be doing much party planning."

"Okay. Well, Daiki and I can probably do it. I only have two exams this week, and one is just to perform for my music class, so I'm not swamped."

"Thanks, Inoo."

"No problem. Hey, how's Yabu doing?" Hikaru sighed.

"He's stressed. It's going to be a long week for him."

"Well tell him we wish him good luck, and not to worry about Yuto's birthday." Inoo said, and Hikaru felt extremely grateful for his friends.

"You're the best, Inoo." The keyboardist chuckled.

"Yeah. Bye!"

"Bye." Hikaru ended the call, finally falling back into bed, and blissfully into sleep.

Hikaru didn't wake up until Kota got home, the older man rousing him from sleep just in time for him to get ready for work and go back out into the world for another long night. Kota meanwhile was back to studying, his first two exams apparently having gone well. And in this fashion the week continued. They honestly barely saw each other, Yabu and Hikaru on nearly opposite sleeping schedules, and each working hard on their own endeavors. Hikaru didn't really like it, but whenever he'd kiss Kota goodbye, or he'd pass a jewelry store he'd remind himself that after this week Kota wouldn't be so busy. And once he'd made up the money they needed to pay their bills he could go out and buy that engagement ring he wanted.

It wasn't until Friday that they got to spend any quality time together, Hikaru declaring that he deserved a day off work before tackling Yabu to the bed for some much needed congratulations-on-finishing-your-exams-sex. They had a late breakfast, Kota declaring that as today was a day to finally relax after their stressful week, he would make pancakes. It was shortly after their fantastic breakfast, and they were back in bed, just cuddling and talking about nothing in particular when Hikaru's phone went off. It was Inoo. He put their friend on speaker, holding the device between the two of them, and said

"Yo."

"Daiki is a genius." Inoo declared. Yabu raised an eyebrow.

"We thought you had been saving all of the details of your sex life for Takaki." He remarked, making Hikaru break out into a grin. They'd all been receiving texts from the older man, complaining about how Inoo would over-share any new developments in his budding romance. Inoo shamelessly just said

"Oh, we haven't quite gotten there yet, but I'm sure he's a genius in that department too." Hikaru shook his head in amusement, before getting back on topic.

"What department is it that Daiki is a genius in then?" He asked.

"He's come up with the perfect idea for Yuto's birthday celebration!" Inoo announced dramatically. Yabu looked over at Hikaru, confused.

"Birthday celebration?" He asked. Hikaru felt like an idiot. Once he'd called Inoo he'd let all thoughts of Yuto's birthday leave his mind, and in the rush of the past week he had completely forgotten to tell Kota about any attempted birthday plans for their drummer.

"Yuto's birthday is on Tuesday. I called Inoo earlier this week to see if he and Daiki could maybe plan something for him." Yabu just nodded, and now that everyone was on the same page, Inoo elaborated.

"So we were thinking we could all take him to the amusement park tomorrow. I was hoping it could be some sort of surprise thing. We could have the band, plus Keito and Yamada, and all significant others, like Chinen and Daiki, and Keito's boy. Yuto seemed to like him. That Ryutaro kid." Hikaru was surprised that Inoo had given a green light to anything involving heights and fast moving transport. But he wasn't going to break whatever spell Daiki had him under, so he just nodded.

"That sounds great Inoo."

"What if Hikaru and I go and pick Yuto up?" Yabu offered. "We could tell him we're taking him out as a celebration for finishing all of our exams, and then we just take the train to the park, and you guys can all wait there and meet us?" As he offered this he looked to Hikaru, who nodded. He was totally up for that job.

"Perfect! I'll call the others." Inoo declared, and just like that the plans were made, Yabu calling Yuto and telling him that they were going out to a surprise location to celebrate finishing all of their testing. When he hung up he smiled, laying his head on Hikaru's shoulder.

"Tomorrow's going to be so much fun."


	9. Chapter 9

Yabu's prediction turned out to be extremely true. They woke up early the next morning and walked to the train station, the sun in their eyes as they approached Yuto's family's house. For a moment Hikaru hesitated before ringing the doorbell, afraid that they could be waking up any late sleepers, but his fear was unnecessary, Yuto obviously wide awake, practically bouncing in excitement when he pulled open the door to see them standing there. He yelled back into the depths of the house that he was leaving, before joining them outside, immediately pestering them with questions about where they were going, skipping ahead and gesturing widely as he talked, and Yabu giggled, leaning into Hikaru's side as they watched the young man's innocent excitement.

"Can we just keep him forever? He's so cute." Yabu whispered, and Hikaru had to agree with the sentiment. Yuto was adorable.

"D'you remember what you said last week about wanting a kid like Yuto? Well I'm on board with that one hundred percent." He said, as Yuto dashed back over to them from where he had skipped ahead, slinging an arm across Hikaru shoulders before trying to use some ridiculous logic to get any hints about their destination, succeeding in making both Hikaru and Yabu laugh, but failing in procuring any information about their day trip. This behavior continued throughout the train ride, Yabu and Hikaru keeping Yuto guessing until they were standing in front of the amusement park's entrance.

For a moment Hikaru thought the surprise might be ruined, when he realized that they had to walk right past Takaki's motorcycle parked in front of the entrance, but Yuto didn't seem to notice; perhaps due to the new, extremely girly, pink and purple helmet hooked over one of the handlebars. Hikaru raised his eyebrows in surprise—that helmet had to be for Chinen. Yuto was amazed, squealing in excitement, but that amazement was heightened when they got inside and the rest of the group Inoo and Daiki had put together popped out from behind a bush, shouting

"Happy birthday!" Yuto was lost in a sea of people as the group all gave him hugs, and he was grinning, completely surprised. Hikaru couldn't help but smile too, and he and Kota fell into step with Yuto and Yamada, leading the group to the first roller coaster. Just behind them, Chinen was chatting with Keito and a boy Hikaru recognized as Ryutaro, and he realized that Kota had never met them before. He was just about to introduce Kota to them, turning to his boyfriend, when he saw Keito trip and he cursed internally, on reflex he reaching out as Yuto's best friend fell onto Kota, the both of them pitching forward harshly into Hikaru's arms. His heart was pounding at the close call, and he helped the both of them regain their balance, giving Kota a quick one armed hug as he settled them on their feet.

"You two alright?" He asked, and Yabu nodded, obviously more concerned for Keito than himself. The whole group had crowded around them by this point, and Keito seemed extremely embarrassed and very sorry, apologizing profusely for the incident in that overly polite manner of his that had taken Hikaru aback the first time they'd talked. But both Yabu and Yuto comforted Keito, and they continued on their way to the roller coaster Yuto had designated as their first stop. They had barely made it to the line however, when whatever courage Daiki had previously convinced Inoo of was shed, the older man sprinting full out away from the ride, Daiki following in his wake.

They watched Daiki try and convince Inoo to rejoin the group, and as they did, Hikaru couldn't help but notice that Takaki and Chinen were teasing each other just a bit, their interaction on the verge of being flirtatious, and he caught Kota's eye, sharing a pointed look with his boyfriend. Kota nodded; he saw it too. It didn't take too long for Daiki to convince Inoo to rejoin the group, hand in hand. Inoo was offered an out, Yuto saying that the keyboardist didn't have to ride the coaster, but Inoo shook his head, saying

"Daiki said if I ride this one he'd go on the carousel with me." Hikaru couldn't help but coo at the cuteness of that statement along with some of the others, but Takaki was visibly skeptical, saying

"You guys act so cute and innocent."

"What do you mean?" Yamada asked from his place tucked under Yuto's arm. Takaki smirked, saying

"Well, not to name names, but someone nearly got to second base on date two." Beside Hikaru, Kota gasped, sounding confused as he said

"That was years ago, how do you know about that?" Hikaru immediately knew why Kota had misunderstood Takaki's implication.

"Kota, I don't think he was talking about us." Hikaru nudged his boyfriend, nodding over to Inoo and Daiki, the two in question looking like a pair of flamingos. Yuto was looking at their friends in wide eyed incredulity, and he said

"Seriously? I've only just now kissed Yamada." His declaration earned him a whack on the arm from his aforementioned boyfriend, but Takaki wasn't quite finished embarrassing Inoo, continuing on.

"I told him I didn't want to know all of the graphic details, but he let me know anyway." Takaki informed them, before glancing over at Yabu in mild surprise, saying "But really though, you guys too? Second base?" Hikaru felt the need to step in. This did involve him as well after all. And besides, it wasn't even a big deal anymore. It had been at the time, but that was nearly ten years ago.

"We were teenagers. Hormones were everywhere." In response, Takaki let out a rather dramatically pained

"Don't share. Please." Yabu immediately adopted this evil grin, launching into the story, starting off with a loud

"If you really want to know..." Hikaru laughed, slinging an arm across Kota's shoulders as the taller man continued, as if the tale was a bedtime story. "Once upon a time, at an amusement park not too different than this one—really different actually, because we weren't at an amusement park at all, it was a fair—Hikaru and I decided to go ride on the Ferris wheel. By some extremely fortunate twist of fate, the thing got stuck while we were in it, and—"

To Hikaru's disappointment, that was where the description came to a halt, an amusement park employee ushering them onto the roller coaster they had been in line for. The coaster was fun, Hikaru's heart racing in his chest, and Kota grabbed his hand as they went around the fast turns, the older man's face scrunched up. The ride didn't last long however, and before they knew it they were all back on the ground, Inoo dragging everyone onto some smaller, less thrilling rides. Throughout these events, Takaki was constantly looking at Chinen, the older man extremely sensitive to his little husband's actions. Daiki and Yuto both sent pointed looks Hikaru's way, silently asking 'are you seeing this?' And Hikaru knew that they too could tell that Takaki definitely had a crush on Chinen. So when the group split up, Hikaru, Yabu, Daiki, Yuto, and Ryutaro getting Takaki alone for a bit, they jumped on the opportunity to pester him, Yabu asking as they got off of their second coaster

"When were you going to tell us you had a crush on Chinen?" Takaki's eyes grew wide, his cheeks red, and he stared at Yabu, sputtering out

"I... How did...? What?" Yuto grinned, announcing

"We were right!" The tall drummer slapped the rest of them high fives, and as he did so Takaki seemed rather mortified, asking

"How did you guys know?"

"Well, you kind of have been staring at him since we got off the first roller coaster." Hikaru informed him, Kota nodding in agreement. "Plus, I don't think I've seen that pink and purple motorcycle helmet before. Is it new?" Takaki just groaned, hiding his face with his hands, and Hikaru couldn't help but smile. This, he felt, was a fantastic development. Perhaps now Takaki and Chinen could try being a real couple, and focus on their marriage. Perhaps Takaki wouldn't take that divorce his mother had offered him after all. Honestly, if those two could just love each other, it would probably make their lives a whole lot easier.

The discussion didn't last much longer, the two factions of the group reunifying and heading off to grab some food, during which Takaki and Chinen's flirting got a little out of hand, powdered sugar everywhere. Kota meanwhile managed to eat a whole turkey leg by himself, before running off to play at some of the booths, declaring that he would win something. Hikaru watched from a distance as Yabu picked some ring toss type game, smiling as his boyfriend grandly failed on his first attempt. Daiki walked up, joining him, and they quietly watched Yabu fail together for a few moments before the younger man said

"So, how are things going with you two?" Hikaru looked over at his friend, a bit surprised by the question. But he smiled, nodding.

"Great."

"You love him a lot." Daiki said, looking back to where Yabu had finally managed to win a lollipop for his efforts on the ring toss. Hikaru felt his smile grow a bit bigger, and he nodded. He used to feel embarrassed when admitting just how much he loved Kota, but as the years had gone by he'd grown comfortable with it.

"Yup. Our anniversary is coming up. Well, it's in November." He said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I want to ask him to marry me. I just need a bit more money, for the ring." It was Daiki's turn to look surprised, and Hikaru realized that he hadn't told any of his friends his plans yet. He talked about it all the time with his customers from work, but it was sometimes easier to tell strangers his secrets than the people he was close with.

"That's fantastic." Daiki said, sounding completely genuine. "I'm really happy for you, Hikaru."

"Thanks."

"Hikaru!" Yabu called, interrupting their conversation. He was waving for him to come over and look at something, pointing enthusiastically at some strange shoot the ducks type game. Hikaru excused himself, jogging over to see what the excitement was all about, Yabu grabbing his arm and saying

"Look! There!" It only took Hikaru a moment to figure out why Kota was so excited. The prizes were rainbow colored fake beards. Hikaru felt the laughter bubbling out of him, and he laughed until he cried. He shook his head, asking

"Do you want me to win you a beard, Ko-chan?" Yabu blushed a bit, but the glint in his eyes was answer enough, and he looked so cute that Hikaru couldn't help but lean in and kiss him, taking a few coins out of his pocket, and gearing up to destroy some plastic ducks. Hikaru completely forgot about his conversation with Daiki until long after the amusement park adventure had ended. He had eaten a quick dinner with Kota at their apartment, and had gone out to work, his ramen stand barely set up when all eight of his friends appeared, crowding around, taking up all of the seats and leaning on the counter.

"Surprise!" Daiki announced, smiling widely, and Hikaru felt a grin break out on his face. He took a sweeping glance of all of them, truly surprised. Everyone had come, even Keito and Yamada, and Chinen's friend, Ryutaro; the two boys engrossed in some playful sounding argument. Hikaru felt himself smiling.

"What's all this?" He asked, and Takaki flicked his hair out of his eyes, saying deadpan

"We're hungry."

"We figured if we're going to be giving our money to someone in exchange for food, it'd be good to give it to a great cause." Daiki said, winking. None of the others seemed to be in on the reference, a few of them giving him weird looks, but no one asked any questions. Yuto interrupted, drawing everyone's attention by shrieking and falling off of the stool he'd been perched on, Yamada drew his hands away from Yuto's neck, laughing as his boyfriend fell.

"What the―"

"Just testing some information Keito gave me earlier." Yamada explained as Yuto scrambled to his feet, his face red from embarrassment and laughter. Hikaru felt himself grinning as he took everyone's orders, and as they all ate he found himself participating in the conversation, leaning across the counter to discuss music with Keito, and ruffle Ryutaro's hair, and make kissy faces behind Chinen's back whenever Takaki would talk to his little husband teasingly. He had the best friends. They bought bowls and bowls of ramen, Keito and Yamada eating three helpings each, much to Hikaru's amazement. In ones and twos they eventually left, until only Daiki remained, the younger man picking at the dregs of his second bowl of ramen. Hikaru sat down opposite him, asking

"Did you plan this?" Daiki nodded, a small smile on his lips.

"I wanted to help contribute to your wedding plans, and even though the others don't know about them yet, I figured that if they did know, then they'd want to as well. I know you don't like people just giving you money, but I thought something like this would be okay. Besides―" He stopped to slurp up some noodles. "―this stuff is _really_ good." Hikaru was genuinely touched by Daiki's words. Daiki was so thoughtful, so considerate and he cared so much about him, and Kota, and that was just so wonderful. He was so lucky to have friends like Daiki. Hikaru didn't express any of this though, too embarrassed. Instead he just said

"Well, if―or when―you and Inoo decide to tie the knot, let me do the same for you." Daiki's smile grew, and he nodded, pulling himself to his feet and laying some money down on the counter next to his empty bowl.

"You have a good night, Hika." Hikaru smiled, and Daiki waved before turning and leaving, his little hands shoved into his pockets. The rest of the night continued as per usual, no more surprises, but Daiki's plan had worked, and Hikaru realized at the end of the night that with the extra money his friends had contributed he could _buy Kota a ring._ He shook his head in amazement, excitement rising up in his chest, despite how weary he was from his long night. He'd have to start going ring shopping.


	10. Chapter 10

Hikaru didn't really get a chance to start looking at rings until the following Tuesday, once Kota had left for school. He kissed his boyfriend goodbye, and then―once he was sure Kota had gone―he got dressed and slipped out the door, locking their empty apartment behind himself. Anticipation filled his chest as he got onto his train, wallet heavy in his pocket. The anticipation only grew as the train left the platform, and it continued a constant feeling in his chest all of the way into town. Hikaru had decided to go downtown once he'd gotten the money to buy Kota's ring a while ago. He'd already browsed what felt like every jewelry store within walking distance of their apartment building, and while he'd seen plenty of pretty rings, none of them jumped out at him, or made him feel like they were quite what he was looking for.

Most engagement rings, Hikaru was coming to realize, were made for women. The ones made for men were usually thick and plain, and Hikaru found them to be less unique, or meaningful in his eyes, and on the whole unfitting of his Kota. But Kota―as a man―deserved something made for a man. But he also deserved something beautiful, something that held the unmistakable promise of marriage and lifelong love. Hikaru wanted a proper engagement ring, and he stepped off of the train determined to find one.

He shopped for hours, using a preprepared list of places he'd determined as the most promising through some research online, and he walked from store to store, taking notes and asking lots of questions in each place. He looked at what felt like hundreds of different rings, but to his disappointment his findings at these places were much like those at the jewelry stores closer to home. All rings made for men just seemed too bulky for Kota's delicate fingers, their weight amazingly heavy, and while some did have diamonds, all of them had stones that seemed dwarfed by the band they were embedded in. While his findings were slightly frustrating, he went home just as determined to find the ring. He would find it, and once he did, he'd know.

The next day when he wasn't trying to figure out a clever way to get Kota's ring size was spent working instead on his proposal ideas. He had three that he was debating between, all of which he liked a great deal, but all of which required very different planning, and a different budget. To help himself try and narrow it down to one idea, he checked the calendar. Their anniversary was on a Tuesday this year. Damn it! Kota had his university classes that day.

"Kota?" He asked, putting on his best, most innocent voice. His boyfriend looked up from where he'd been texting Takaki, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What are you going to try and convince me to do, Hika?" He asked. Hikaru dropped the act, going over and sitting next to his boyfriend, taking his hand.

"Skip school."

"Why?" Yabu seemed bewildered by the request, but Hikaru could also see him gearing up for a lecture about how _education was important_ and _as a man_ he had a responsibility to follow through with his commitments by doing his best. Hikaru twined their fingers together, giving an honest answer.

"It's just one day. Our anniversary." Kota sighed, immediately adopting an apologetic look on his face, and he looked down at their intertwined fingers, his brushing gently over Hikaru's knuckles as he thought about Hikaru's request. Hikaru was glad that Kota was genuinely considering what he was asking of him, but he knew even before his boyfriend opened his mouth what Kota's decision was, and it wasn't in his favor.

"Hika...I'm sorry, but...I just can't." Hikaru tried to act like it wasn't a big deal, nodding and leaning in to kiss Yabu on the cheek, knowing that the older man felt guilty―as he always did―when he declined anything Hikaru genuinely asked of him. Hikaru smiled, but internally he was cursing, frustrated. He hadn't planned on Kota being at school for most of the day. None of his ideas could accommodate that. He would have to start all over again, from scratch.

Hikaru had been completely focused on his planning, and on his relationship with Kota, and he had completely forgotten about Takaki's newfound crush on Chinen until that Friday, when after rehearsal Inoo said

"So. Guess what Takaki did." Hikaru didn't miss the opportunity to tease their singer, asking

"Do we care?" Takaki played along, pouting jokingly at him, and declaring

"Fine. I won't tell you guys." His statement was made null in seconds however, when Inoo said

"Takaki confessed to Chinen." The words spilled out all jumbled together, and it took Hikaru a moment to comprehend what exactly had been said, shocked by this unexpected turn of events. He wasn't the only one, Daiki practically yelling in surprise, Yuto positively speechless, his mouth hanging open slightly. Kota had his eyes wide, the way he did when he was comprehending something unexpected, his brain racing, and after a moment he said

"We thought it would take at least a month for you to do something. But a week?" Takaki seemed thoroughly pleased with himself, a huge grin on his face, and he just shrugged in response to Yabu's question. It was in this break that Yuto seemed to gain his wits, asking

"So? How did it go?" All eyes were on Takaki, even Inoo declaring that he didn't know, and suddenly the singer looked just a bit less confident, rubbing as the back of his neck in a slightly embarrassed manner, before saying

"Well...I kind of... I kissed him and he yelled at me." Hikaru just blinked, trying to imagine that scenario. It was gutsy, but it was also―

"Takaki! All you had to do was not do anything stupid, and what do you do? Something stupid!" It seemed as if Inoo had been reading his mind, their keyboardist almost indignant. But Takaki didn't back down, saying

"I don't know how stupid it was, because I have a date tomorrow." Hikaru shared a quick look with Kota, amazed and amused that Takaki's idiotic confession had worked, and Kota seemed to share his thoughts, a grin on his face. Yuto meanwhile, was pouting, and the young drummer said

"Don't scare us like that."

"So? Are you nervous?" Hikaru found himself asking, and from there the conversation covered nothing but Takaki's plans for his first date with Chinen. It seemed that he had put a great deal of thought into it, and Hikaru was pleased to see just how committed Takaki seemed to this concept of him actually being in a relationship with his husband. Luckily, judging on the kisses and giggles they were treated to watching from the two in the weeks to come, it seemed that Takaki's planning had payed off, their singer thoroughly entranced by his little husband, his eyes lighting up whenever the younger man entered the room.

When Hikaru wasn't in full proposal planning mode, new things were happening with the band. To everyone's delight, their little group of friends had grown to ten, now completely including Chinen, Yamada, Keito, and Ryutaro. Ryutaro especially was immensely enjoyed by Kota, who took to treating the teen like the younger brother he'd never had. Hikaru caught Yabu wrestling the kid to the ground a few times over childish things, laughing and whining. Hikaru figured it was good that his boyfriend had someone besides Inoo to behave immaturely with. But with the inclusion of the three new boys into their little circle came other new benefits, and it was through Keito's hospitality that they found themselves recording some of their songs for the first time ever.

The quiet young man had offered up the full recording studio he had in his home for their use one day offhandedly, and they had jumped at the opportunity. It was long, tough work, and Hikaru knew he was extremely picky about the process, but they all seemed to be having a lot of fun, even Daiki getting in on the activity, playing around with Keito's sound board and getting himself familiar with it. Perhaps, at this rate, they could sell some of their music one day.

A week before their anniversary, everything finally fell into place. Hikaru had been out to get new strings for his bass when he looked down into the shop next to the music store's front window and froze. That was it. The perfect ring, the ring he'd been looking for. It was definitely made for a man, the band in that similar thick style, but it wasn't as wide as they usually were, and there in the center was a decently sized, real, proper diamond, sparkling innocently up at him and drawing a smile to his face. It was beautiful, and he could just see it resting on Kota's finger, and so before he knew it he found himself inside the shop, forking over the cash without any question. He'd pay whatever they wanted, as long as he got that ring. And, to his utter delight, he did, leaving the store with a little navy blue velvet box in his pocket, his heart pounding in his chest in anticipation.

In the next few days his plans were finalized, and suddenly the only thing Hikaru had to do was wait. Waiting was worse than planning. He was excited, anxiously chomping at the bit; the anticipation, and—if he was being completely honest with himself—the fears, were keeping him up at night. His thoughts raced over his plan repeatedly, trying to imagine what he was going to do, and more importantly, how Kota was going to react. Yet despite his sleepless nights and the butterflies buzzing in his chest—so constant now was to make him slightly nauseous—dragging each day on, Tuesday rolled around, and suddenly it was _the_ day.

He'd ended up staying up until the early hours of the morning, unable to shut his brain down and just sleep. As consequence he didn't wake to Kota's alarm like he usually did. Instead he was woken by a warm hand on his cheek and Kota's familiar voice murmuring in his ear.

"Hikaru. Look at me; its morning." Slowly Hikaru cracked his eyes open, his brain still fuzzy with sleep, and he was met with the sight of Kota smiling down and him, and his boyfriend murmured "Happy anniversary." Oh. Wow. Today marked ten years. Ten years of being with Kota, of _loving _Kota. He felt an answering smile growing on his own face, and he said

"Happy anniversary to you too." He pulled himself to a sitting position, blinking away the last remnants of sleep, and they leaned in for a kiss, meeting each other halfway. The kiss was long and sweet, and Hikaru whined when Yabu pulled back, the older man looking apologetic.

"I was going to let you sleep, but I just wanted to kiss you before I have to leave. It's already time...I have to go if I'm going to catch my train." Hikaru looked over at the clock, cursing when he realized just how late it was. Kota took his hand, giving it a small squeeze. "Sorry." Hikaru brushed off the apology at once, throwing the sheets off of his body and pulling himself to his feet.

"Have you eaten?" He asked, and Kota nodded, standing as well. He was already dressed, his school bag packed and waiting on the kitchen table. He truly had wanted to let Hikaru sleep, obviously having waited until the last minute before waking him up. Hikaru knew that his boyfriend had to go, but he wrapped his arms around Kota tightly, pulling him to his chest and burying his nose in his neck. Kota reciprocated the gesture more fiercely than Hikaru had expected, his thin arms binding Hikaru to him, and Hikaru felt his boyfriend's chest expand and contract rapidly, and heard him sigh.

"I don't want to go." Yabu murmured. There was a small pause, before he pulled back, his hands on Hikaru's shoulders, as he looked him seriously in the eyes. "I love you." Hikaru just nodded, and Kota smiled, leaving their bedroom to retrieve his bag and put on his shoes, and Hikaru followed him, giving him one last kiss on their doorstep, and saying in an almost pleading manner

"Hurry home." Kota smiled a small smile, nodding and fixing a stray hair on the top of Hikaru's head before leaving for class. Once he'd gone, Hikaru just stood there for a while, his mind racing, everything he needed to do, everything he was _going_ to do today piling on top of each other and making him feel slightly panicked. So he sat down, ate breakfast, drank terrible coffee, and made himself a list. Once the list was complete, he got to work.

He started cooking, he made a few necessary phone calls, and once he got started he was swept up in the preparations, the hours flying by. It was mid afternoon before he realized that Kota would be home within an hour, and he was still in his underwear. He hopped in the shower, and then pulled out his nicest casual clothes, dressing up a bit for their date, but not enough that it would raise any suspicions. He was slipping the ring into his pocket, his stomach already churning slightly in an anxious anticipation, when he heard the door open, Kota announcing his return. Hikaru went to greet him, stopping him as he reached down to take off his shoes with a quick

"No! Don't―" Yabu sent him a questioning glance, but he left his shoes on, standing there in the doorway. Hikaru grabbed the picnic basket he'd prepared, slipping Kota's school bag off of his bony shoulder and depositing it on the floor right by the door. Yabu just watched, still obviously confused. "I...I have a surprise planned. For our anniversary." Hikaru's explanation drew a huge grin on Kota's face, and he obediently took Hikaru's hand, letting him lead as they left the house.

Kota began to ask questions once they got off the train back in their old neighborhood, as Hikaru began taking him through familiar streets, following a path they both knew all too well. They rounded a corner, and arrived back in front of their old middle school. The kids were just being let out, students all talking and joking as they left in a mob through the gate, and a few of them gave Hikaru and Yabu strange looks as they passed, but none said anything. Yabu's eyes were huge, and he turned to Hikaru, obviously completely taken by surprise.

"Hika, what's this?" Hikaru adjusted his grip on their picnic basket, smiling.

"A walk down memory lane. Don't worry, I called ahead of time and got permission for us to be here." He took a step inside. "Let's go." Yabu looked up at their old school, smiling a bit, and he nodded, and together they crossed the school grounds. Suddenly, Hikaru stopped as they were about halfway across the courtyard. Yabu gave him another bewildered look. "This―" He pointed to the ground he was standing on. "—is where I was standing the first time I saw you." He smiled, pointing over to another uninteresting portion of the open space. "You were right over there, showing off your soccer pins to some of the other kids."

Yabu groaned a bit in embarrassment but he was smiling, and he gave Hikaru's hand a squeeze before Hikaru led him up to their old classroom. Once they got there, Kota immediately skittered over to his old seat, plopping down in the desk chair. He giggled at the way his long legs sprawled out awkwardly from under the desk, before his attention was drawn to the surface, and he rubbed at it, saying

"Some kid wrote_ 'I love Jinguji'_ on my desk!" He declared, pouting a bit. Hikaru laughed, taking his own desk seat. It was much tinier than he remembered, the chair uncomfortable, with barely any space for his legs. They reminisced for a while about the kids in their class, before Hikaru stood again, walking over to the back corner by the door, taking Yabu and dragging him up too, positioning him specifically just outside of the doorway and announcing

"This was where we were the first time we talked to each other." Yabu looked over at him in surprise. "You had been kicking around a soccer ball in the hallway and one of your buddies kicked it and it hit me in the face." Yabu's eyes widened at the memory, one hand going to cover his mouth.

"That's right! You snapped at me!" He declared, and Hikaru frowned teasingly.

"Of course I did! You idiots hit me with your ball! I was upset!" Yabu laughed, nodding.

"True." By this point it was growing dark, the sun nearly set, and they basked in the last golden rays of light for a moment, before Yabu's stomach growled, and he looked down at it embarrassedly. "Hikaru, this is great, but...I'm hungry." Hikaru smirked, snatching the picnic basket back up from where he'd set it down on one of the desks, and said

"Then we'll have to go to that place!" Yabu immediately knew where he meant, leading the way this time to one specific staircase, and plopping down on the second step from the top, right where they had eaten lunch nearly every day during their middle school years. Hikaru sat down next to him, digging into the picnic basket and pulling out containers full of every type of lunch food he could think of, everything handmade cutely into nice shapes like hearts and animals and soccer balls. He also drew out two thermoses of tea, and as he laid out their meal, Kota's gaze swept over the feast with wide eyes.

"Hikaru, this is amazing!" Hikaru smiled, passing him his chopsticks.

"It's our anniversary."

"Still! I wasn't expecting all of this." Hikaru smiled, pleased that Kota seemed to be having such a good time, and he gestured to the food, willing him to eat. And so, he did. They ate as the sun went down, the stars coming out, and the school hallways got dark quickly, the building feeling a bit creepy and abandoned as they sat there by themselves. Hikaru felt a small shiver run down his spine. He hadn't really taken into account how the school's atmosphere would change over night, but it was fine. He hadn't planned on them staying inside the building any longer anyway.

They packed up the remnants of their dinner, and as they left the building Kota thanked him for such a wonderful surprise. Hikaru almost didn't hear him, the sound of his own heart racing in his ears drowning out his boyfriend's words. But he took Kota's hand, and he said

"We have one last stop." He dragged Yabu around to the back of the school building, to a small, plain but private patch of worn grass and dirt, illuminated by an exterior light attached to the side of the school building. And he knew that Kota remembered this place, but he said it anyway, letting himself untangle their fingers and pull away—depositing Kota right under the beam of the light, where he could see him perfectly—taking a few steps and turning around to face him. "This is the place that I confessed my feelings for you." He murmured. Kota nodded, and Hikaru felt as if his stomach was trying to eject itself out of his throat, because this was it. He took a deep breath, and another, and then he continued.

"Now last time I wasn't as direct as I needed to be to make you understand. Last time wasn't quite good enough the first time around. I'm not going to make that mistake again; I don't want you yelling at me." He added the last bit as a bit of a joke, but Kota could sense how nervous he was, and the older man didn't laugh, his eyes wide. Hikaru pushed on. "This time I'm just going to tell you how I feel." Kota nodded, frozen in place.

"I feel like this. Kota, you complete my life. You make me whole and you keep me patient and you remind me that life is supposed to be _fun._ You brighten every day, and you help me to realize who I am, and you help me to be who I want to be. You have shaped me into the person I am now, and you have done it all with nothing but love and kindness, and I am so grateful for you." He paused, noticing that tears were slipping slowly and silently down Kota's cheeks, and he felt tears of his own building in his eyes, and the next words came out rather croaky.

"I wouldn't know what to do without you." He murmured, and he reached into his pocket, fingers clutching the tiny velvet box, and he continued. "I don't ever want to be without you, Kota. I love you. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone or anything else in my entire life, and so..." Slowly he knelt down, one knee burying into the grass, and as he did Kota let out a choked gasp, one hand covering his mouth, the tears still pouring down his cheeks. Hikaru got the little box out, gently opening the lid, so that the diamond could sparkle in the light of the moon and the slightly yellow glow of the school light. And then he asked "Yabu Kota, will you marry me?"

That was when Kota completely broke down, his silent tears becoming loud sobbing, but he was smiling, and he said

"Yes. Oh, Hikaru—" That was all he managed to get out before Hikaru had barreled into him, pulling him into a fierce hug, his face buried into Hikaru's shoulder. Kota clung to him, still crying, and despite himself Hikaru felt a tear or two roll down his own cheeks. Finally after a minute or two, Yabu pulled himself together, and Hikaru took his hand, gently slipping the ring on his finger. It looked perfect. It looked positively _amazing. _"Hikaru." He looked up into his boyfriend—no—_fiancé's_ eyes, and Kota just said "I love you." Hikaru wiped his cheeks, and he leaned in for a kiss, and in that moment he was the happiest he had ever been in his entire life.


	11. Chapter 11

Hikaru woke the next morning, and everything felt just about the same as it always did. He was in his own bed, Kota half on top of him, their two naked bodies still wrapped around each other in more or less the same position they had been in when he'd fallen asleep. But then his eyes caught on Yabu's ring finger, the diamond sparkling in the light of the morning sun, and he couldn't fight the smile growing on his face. He gently took that hand, twining their fingers together and looking at the ring for a bit before placing a kiss there on the back of his fiancé's hand. Yabu just shifted a bit, nuzzling his face deeper into the crook of Hikaru's neck, his breathing tickling him slightly. Hikaru settled back into the bed, and pulled Kota just a bit closer, letting himself fall back asleep.

By the time they both were properly awake, it was late morning. Even then, they didn't get out of bed, still wrapped up in each other, snuggling and talking quietly and kissing and touching. They spent all day in bed, Yabu not having school and Hikaru free. The only time either got up was to eat or use the restroom, the both of them always immediately returning to bed. They were just so _happy_. So immensely happy, and so in love that Hikaru couldn't help but kiss Kota. He kissed him everywhere, covering him with kisses, and sometimes Kota would squeal and giggle, but other times Kota would kiss him back, his lips trailing hot over Hikaru's skin. And it was in this manner that their day passed blissfully by.

Unfortunately the next day Kota had school, and so Hikaru was to be left to his own devices, taking the liberty to whine a bit as his boyfriend left for the day, saying playfully

"But what am I going to do here all day, by myself?" Yabu thought about that for a moment, before saying honestly

"You could...call our families. I forgot, we kinda need to tell people that we're engaged now." He smiled. "Your mom is going to flip out, she'll be so excited." Hikaru nodded, easily able to imagine just how excited his mother would be.

"That's true. I'll give them a call. But don't you want to tell your own family, Kota?"

"Okay, I will! On the way to class." Yabu declared, pulling his phone out of his pocket, before promptly dropping it and having to scoop it up off of the doormat. Hikaru smiled, and nodded, and with a quick kiss, and murmured _'I love you'_s, Kota left.

Hikaru spent nearly all day on the phone, it seemed. His mother—as predicted—made a very big deal out of the change in the status of her youngest child's relationship, wanting to know every detail. Kota meanwhile texted him throughout the day, telling him all about how his parents had reacted to the news. He'd somehow managed to change his contact name simply to Fiancé, the word accompanied by little hearts on both sides. Whenever Hikaru got a notification on his phone and he looked down to see that on his screen, he couldn't help but smile.

That evening, after Kota had gotten home, they had been eating an early dinner when Hikaru realized

"We should probably tell our friends." Kota looked up from his plate, nodding.

"Yeah. And you need to tell your sister." Hikaru felt like an idiot. Of course his sister needed to know. And so, after dinner they pulled out their phones, Yabu declaring that he'd call Inoo, while Hikaru found Takaki in his contacts. He waited to call though, wanting to hear Inoo's initial reaction to the news. Kota had the phone up to his ear, but Hikaru stayed silent, listening as Kota said

"Hey Inoo!" There was a small pause. "Actually, I have news. Hikaru and I....we're engaged." That was all Yabu managed to get out before Hikaru heard a screech from the other end, Inoo's voice strong and shrill, and Yabu pulled the phone away from his ear, waiting until their keyboardist was finished. Hikaru chuckled, and he could tell that Inoo had immediately gone straight from screaming into full babble, Hikaru catching the words _plan a party_ in the rush before Kota stood, taking his extra loud conversation to their bedroom so Hikaru could talk on his phone in peace.

He called Takaki, and he felt excited, a light buzzing in his chest as he waited for his friend to pick up the phone. Somehow it felt like Takaki should know something was up, but the singer didn't seem to have a clue, answering his call with a nonchalant

"Hey Hikaru, what's up?"

"I just thought you might want to know that I... Um..." Hikaru felt the grin growing on his face, taking over his mouth and obstructing his speech, and he pulled away from the receiver, chuckling a bit at how cheesy that was. That seemed to alert Takaki that he had something important to say, the older man asking

"What is it?" Hikaru bit his lip, taking a breath before saying

"Well, I... I proposed to Yabu, and... He said yes." There was a moment of silence, Hikaru waiting with baited breath for Takaki's reaction.

"You're getting married?!" The words were said with surprise, and Hikaru let them sink in. He was getting married. _He was getting married._

"Yeah."

"Congratulations! Finally." Takaki sounded excited, happy and genuine, and Hikaru found himself smiling again. "Now we have to have a party." Hikaru found himself laughing a bit at Takaki's statement.

"That's exactly what Inoo said. You're not shrieking at me as much as Inoo shrieked at Yabu, so my eardrums thank you for that." There was a shared silence, during which Hikaru could feel the both of them, sitting on their phones and smiling like idiots, before Takaki said

"That's really, really great Hikaru. You guys are perfect together."

"Thanks." Hikaru said._ Perfect together._ He and Kota were soul mates. "Yeah, we are. I know." That had Takaki laughing, and Hikaru smiled, looking up as Kota came back into the room, off the phone with Inoo. "Hey, I've got to call my sister. I just thought you'd want to know." Takaki let him go, and he hung up, leaning in to kiss Kota, simply because he could.

Apparently Takaki and Inoo hadn't been joking about the party plans, because that Friday night both Hikaru and Yabu got texts from their friends inviting them to Takaki and Chinen's house for a _Super Exciting Engagement Party_, scheduled for the following afternoon. Hikaru blinked down at the text in surprise.

"They certainly don't waste any time, do they?" Kota asked, showing Hikaru a matching text on his phone screen. Hikaru smiled in amusement.

"Nope." He sighed. "They probably could have given themselves more time."

"They're just as excited as we are." Kota said with a smile, and Hikaru nodded in agreement. They had the best friends. And so it wasn't long before Hikaru and Yabu found themselves on Takaki and Chinen's quaint doorstep, hand in hand. They were greeted by the other eight guys, their friends throwing confetti as they breached the entryway, sufficiently completely blocking Hikaru's vision with the little rainbow colored pieces, and he was sure—judging by the state of Kota's hair—that his own was completely saturated with the stuff. But he didn't much care, just laughing as Kota squealed in surprise, giving his fiancé's hand a small squeeze.

The house had been decorated for the occasion, crepe paper streamers hanging from the ceiling, stretching from one end of the living room to the other, balloons of every color littering the ground and hung in tasteful clusters throughout the space. Everything was bright and festive, and someone had obviously cleaned. It was more than he'd been anticipating; it was a proper party.

"Wow, this is amazing." He told them, his statement completely overruled by Inoo declaring

"The ring! I want to see the ring!" Kota brandished his hand out, showing it off as the others crowded around, Yuto letting out a yelp of excitement. Hikaru felt himself smiling as Takaki voiced approval of his choice, the older man giving him a thumbs up. He glanced back down at it. It was a great ring, he knew. The rest ooh-ed over it for a few more moments, before they were directed to sit in the living room, Hikaru finding himself and Kota squished into the huge armchair, everyone else sprawling on Takaki and Chinen's couch.

"We have cake!" Daiki announced, much to Hikaru's surprise. Cake too?! Daiki and Yamada flitted off into the kitchen, returning with a huge, obviously homemade cake, setting the monstrous confection down in the middle of Takaki and Chinen's coffee table with a flourish and a dramatic announcement. The next few minutes were spent doling out pieces of cake, paper plates produced from the pantry. Hikaru and Kota spent the time complimenting their friends’ handiwork, Hikaru himself feeling slightly overwhelmed with gratitude. This was wonderful. They were just getting into the cake when Chinen spoke up, Takaki's little husband asking

"How did you propose, Hikaru?" He suddenly felt like a creature in a zoo exhibit just a bit, their friends' full attentions immediately on him, anticipating the tale. He felt Kota lean into his side a bit, and it took him a moment to decide just where to begin.

"Well, um... Tuesday was our anniversary, right? Ten years." The number was met with an impressed whistle from Daiki, Hikaru smiling modestly, before continuing. "I'd actually been wanting to propose to him for a while, but I didn't really know how or when." He explained. "By the time I had the date figured out, I had told Daiki about it." Hikaru's statement earned Daiki indignant exclamations and pouty faces from most of the group, the only one not surprised by the information Chinen, the petite man saying

"You told me about wanting to get married too. The first time we met, remember?" It took Hikaru a few moments—it felt like that had happened so long ago—but then he did recall the first evening that Chinen had sat down at his ramen stand; before he'd even known who the younger man was.

"Right! I'd already began saving money at that point, I think." Kota looked over at him in surprise, and for a moment Hikaru wanted nothing more than to just lean in and kiss his handsome fiancé. But then someone shifted in his peripherals, and he was brought back to the group. "Anyway," He'd been explaining the proposal. Right. "The night before I barely got any sleep, and so I didn't get to see much of Kota before he went off to school—and yes, he did go to school on our anniversary—" His teasing was cut off by Yabu whining out

"I'm sorry! I had a test! How was I supposed to know you were going to... To do all of that?"

"Inoo said something about a middle school when he was texting me." Daiki sounded a little impatient, as if ready for the real story to start. "That needs a little explanation."

"Middle school, right..." Hikaru tried to pick a good place to jump into the story. "I packed a picnic-type dinner and, with permission from the principal, we went down to the middle school that we first met at." He was already feeling rather embarrassed—more than he'd thought he would—when his friends started exclaiming about _just how cute that was._ He felt himself blushing, and he got silent, Kota picking up the tale for him. Yabu got most of the way through before he started getting choked up, his grip tightening on Hikaru's hand as he got out the last few words of the story. Kota had ducked his head, trying to hide how emotional he'd gotten from the rest of them, and Hikaru felt his heart swelling with affection in his chest, as Takaki said

"Oi, stop crying!" Hikaru couldn't help but tease a bit as he wiped his fiancé's cheeks, saying

"This is nothing, you should have seen him Tuesday." That got laughs from everyone, Yabu protesting good naturedly, causing Hikaru to chuckle. Kota was so cute.

"How come you didn't tell anyone until Thursday?" Yuto asked once the laughter had subsided. "Some of your best friends getting engaged is something pretty important, you know." Hikaru was about to explain that they simply hadn't thought about it, when Inoo cut in.

"They were probably too busy having sex all day." Hikaru shared a quick look with Kota, a smile growing on his face, and he was pleased to see a matching little grin on Kota's face, the older man shrugging. They weren't going to deny the truth. Keito—who had accidentally inhaled his drink instead of swallowing it in surprise at Inoo's statement—began coughing even more harshly than he had been previously, Ryutaro taking his glass and gently rubbing his boyfriend's back, bent over him, care in his eyes. Poor, pure Keito. The silent confirmation they'd given him made Inoo snort a bit, looking rather scandalized as he said "Oh god, just take the presents and get out, you disgusting animals."

_Wait—presents?_ Hikaru barely had time to register the fact that there were gifts before said gifts were being lobbed through the air by Daiki and Inoo, Takaki presenting them with one last wrapped box. Takaki deposited the one he'd carried right into Kota's lap, and so without further ado Kota ripped into it, his eyes lighting up as he saw what was inside. A new coffee maker. Hikaru looked at the device with a want he hadn't realized he'd possessed until he was presented with the opportunity for good coffee. It was a beautiful thing. He himself opened one of the others, passing the last box to Kota. They were a few cookbooks and a box of really delicious looking cookies that they'd have to eat with their new coffee. Hikaru couldn't believe the thoughtfulness, and he and Kota were in the middle of voicing their gratitude for the presents—for everything—when Yuto cut them off, the drummer jumping up enthusiastically and thrusting his glass into the air above his head, suddenly declaring

"To the two most perfect, most made for each other, most in love people I have ever seen. To two soul mates. To Hikaru and Yabu!" Hikaru felt rather embarrassed, but Kota had a huge smile on his face, and Hikaru joined in, so happy to see Kota so happy. Whoops and cheers followed Yuto's sudden toast, and Hikaru leaned into the group, clinking his glass against everyone's within reach. Then, as their voices died down, there was a sharp knocking on the front door. Everyone looked around, bewildered, and Hikaru knew that both he and Kota were doing a head count to get and figure out who could possibly be missing. But they were all here.

"Did you invite someone else?" Takaki's question was directed toward Inoo, but the pretty keyboardist shook his head, looking just as confused as the rest of them. He stood, pulling the door open. A stranger in a suit was standing there, looking very official, a manila folder tucked under one arm. Hikaru was confused and curious. Who was this man? They were all watching and listening as the intruder asked

"Is Takaki Yuya here?" Hikaru turned to Takaki with the rest of the group. Takaki looked just as confused as they did, a frown on his lips, his eyebrow scrunched up on his face like they always did when he wasn't sure about what was happening, or didn't like something. The singer stood from his place beside Chinen on the couch, announcing

"Yes, I'm here." It wasn't until the man said his next few words that Hikaru began to feel rather uneasy.

"Your mother told me that since you've been ignoring her calls, I had to place this in your hands directly. Please return the forms within a week's time, or she will consider your response to be a less than polite 'no, thank you'." Takaki's mother had something to do with this? Hikaru felt dread nagging at the back of his mind. Takaki's mother was bad news. She may have been a wonderful woman, but whenever her life crossed paths—even remotely—with Hikaru's own, it always caused some extra emotional distress amongst his peers that was frankly unnecessary. Takaki took the aforementioned forms, and Hikaru hoped that the older man would just figure out whatever was happening one on one with his mother. Apparently, Takaki didn't share Hikaru's sentiment, instead asking

"I'm sorry, but what is this?"

"The official documents for your divorce with Chinen Yuri." Hikaru felt Kota's grip on his hand grow tight, and Inoo gasped, the whole room sharing a shocked disbelief, made all the worse by Chinen's presence. Hikaru had known about Takaki's mother's offer of divorce. But as that had been over three months ago, and it hadn't been mentioned since, he'd figured it wasn't going to happen; especially now that the two were not only married, but were now in a proper relationship. Chinen obviously had no idea about any of it, the tiny man freezing as the words fell from their intruder's lips, his eyes wide in shock.

The suited man on the doorstep looked around at the decor, as if completely oblivious to the mood crushing he'd just achieved, and said

"You all seem to be having a celebration of some kind, so I won't intrude any longer." With that he excused himself, the front door shutting once more. For a moment everything was deathly silent, Takaki still standing there by the door, unmoving. Hikaru didn't know what to do. He didn't think there was much he _could _or _should_ do. This was an extremely personal and private matter between Takaki and Chinen.

"Takaki?" Poor Chinen was distraught, the little man's eyes glued to his husband's back. Takaki turned away from the doorway, meeting Chinen's gaze, his face full of dread, and full of regret, looking nearly as distraught as Chinen, and he said

"Chinen—" The little dancer leapt from the couch, darting out of the room. Ryutaro and Yamada ran after him, and Hikaru could hear them banging on the bedroom door as Daiki said

"Takaki, you need to do something. Not only did you almost just get hit in the face, the fact that you're at an engagement party holding divorce papers right now is—"

"I didn't ask for them! I don't want these!" Takaki let the papers fall to the ground, desperation seeping into his voice. "I don't want these. I don't want a divorce." Hikaru sighed. This was going to be a huge mess. And while yes—it was great that Takaki was _finally_ ready commit to something, to _someone_—they weren't the ones who needed to know.

"I don't know why you're telling us this." He said, pointing pointedly off in the direction Chinen had gone. The banging had stopped; Chinen had let his friends in. Takaki rushed off the same way they had, and Keito bent down, scooping the folder off of the floor and placing it gently on the coffee table. Kota sighed, leaning into Hikaru's shoulder, and Hikaru kissed him gently on the top of his head. They all sat there silently for a few moments, unsure of what to say or do, before Yuto said

"Are we still performing? I mean, should Takaki leave Chinen when he's like this?" The question was met with a universal sigh of frustration, and Inoo pulled out his phone, announcing that he'd call and cancel the gig they had scheduled. He had just gotten off the phone when Takaki returned, looking frustrated and fruitless.

"Well?" Kota asked, lifting his head from Hikaru's shoulder. "Inoo called the bar—we don't have to go perform tonight."

"He won't listen to me." Takaki announced, flopping onto the couch. "I didn't get to say anything, but I didn't want to make him mad, so... I'm leaving him alone for a while." The older man sighed. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"Wait until he's ready to talk, and don't let Ryutaro shank you in the process." Daiki's answer held a touch of lightness that Hikaru appreciated. "What else is there?"

"Well, you could have talked to Chinen about it beforehand at least." Hikaru's logical words were met with an unamused look from Takaki. The singer knew just how much he'd screwed up. "At least make sure he knows you're not going to break up with him, because that's probably what he's thinking right now." Hikaru knew that if he was in their whacked out situation, that's what he would be thinking. Takaki leaned back into the couch, obviously considering Hikaru's words. After that the conversation shifted, Hikaru and Kota feeling out of place and overall too happy for this recent turn of events, so Kota declared that he needed to study, and they made their escape. It wasn't like they could fix this problem for Takaki anyway. Only Takaki could do that.


	12. Chapter 12

Luckily it only took Takaki about a week to fix his whole divorce issue with Chinen. For most of that week the two men seemed to be avoiding each other like the plague, Takaki spending hours at a time lounging around in Hikaru and Yabu's tiny apartment, complaining about how much he hated his mother, about how much he _missed_ Chinen. It was endearing, Hikaru thought; but that was probably his generally overly-happy state of being talking.

He found that after proposing to Kota, everything simply seemed _better,_ and their combined happiness was what usually sent Takaki off, the frankly miserable singer getting tired of not being properly pitied. Hikaru honestly didn't care. Yes, he wanted things to go well for Takaki, and regardless of the outcome of this 'married-dating-divorce' mess, he would support his friend; but he and Kota were finally engaged, and he wasn't going to let Takaki's sulking get in the way of his happiness.

The band found out that Takaki and Chinen had reconciled the following Saturday when Hikaru spotted incriminating evidence on Takaki's person, after they'd finished performing.

"I'm guessing by the hickey on your neck that you and Chinen have reconciled things?" Kota giggled, slinging an arm around Hikaru's waist, leaning in and pressing his lips to the space right behind Hikaru's ear, as if he'd suddenly decided that hickeys were the new best thing. Inoo seemed to share this sentiment, declaring to a blushing Takaki

"Hey man, I'm not judging you. Hickeys are great." Their singer just turned a darker shade of red, but he confirmed

"Uh... Yeah. Everything is fine. Everything is fantastic, actually." That made Hikaru smile, feeling so happy for his friend. Finally, everyone seemed to be doing well. There was no drama, and everything was progressing smoothly. That peace barely lasted twenty-four hours, Takaki once again disrupting it, this time by getting himself into a hospitalizing accident on his motorcycle the next day when he went to go and pick up the cake for Chinen's birthday party. The party had already started when Chinen got the call informing him of Takaki's accident, and so the nine of them relocated it from Daiki's apartment to Takaki's hospital room. Luckily, the singer seemed to be—while banged up—overall okay, smiling and laughing with them until the group decided to call in a night, everyone scattering to their various homes with waves and farewells. It was late into the night, and as they began their walk home Kota groaned, tossing his head back to look up at the dark sky, declaring

"I'm starving!" Hikaru empathized with the sentiment; he too was hungry. In the haste they'd felt when going to see Takaki, all thoughts of food had been abandoned, and in consequence they hadn't eaten since mid-day.

"Let's get something to eat." He declared, taking Kota's hand. "We'll go to the first place we see that's still open." Kota nodded in agreement, and they soon found themselves sitting at a booth in a fast food establishment with sodas, slightly stale fries, and paper-wrapped hamburgers. For a while they ate in silence, the both of them hungry and slightly tired from the evening's exciting events. Hikaru was completely absorbed in his french fries when Kota said

"Let's set a date for our wedding." Hikaru's head whipped up, looking at his fiancé in surprise. Kota had an eager glint in his eyes, and Hikaru just blinked at him, still taking that sentence in. Finally, he asked

"Now?" Kota shrugged.

"Yeah. Why not?" Hikaru didn't know why not, so he nodded.

"Okay." He set his food aside, giving his fiancé his full attention. "When do you want to have the wedding?" Kota thought about it for a few moments.

"After I graduate in the spring." Hikaru nodded. He too had assumed that the wedding wouldn't take place until Kota had finished school. That would simply be too much stress on Kota's shoulders. Kota continued "But I want to be married soon, so...still that spring perhaps? How does this coming May sound?" _This May? That was a fast turnaround._ Hikaru wasn't sure they could get everything prepared in time to have the wedding in less than six months. But the thought of being married was one he liked, and if Kota was ready to push for it, then so was he. He nodded, smiling.

"I'll start trying to find a venue that can accommodate us on such short notice." He told his fiancé, and Kota grinned, taking his hand across the table.

"It's going to be amazing." The older man announced, and Hikaru couldn't fight the smile growing on his own lips, instead plucking a french fry off of his plastic tray, holding it up to Kota's lips. It would be a little crazy, trying to throw a wedding together with that little time, but he figured that he could probably do it. At least, he'd try. And so, from that point on it became his new biggest project.

Kota still had school, so Hikaru did most of the wedding planning on his own while his fiancé was out attending his classes. He'd still run his ideas by the older man, and Kota contributed a lot, giving Hikaru lists of ideas he'd had throughout the day most nights to help, as well as commenting on anything Hikaru proposed—but Hikaru had to finalize most of the decisions on his own. It was a great deal of work, planning a wedding, and Hikaru spent all time not with the band or at his ramen stand planning and preparing, making phone calls and narrowing lists down. Most things were easily agreed upon, and if the two of them had differing opinions, the situation was dissolved within the evening. Only one thing posed a major argument.

It was over a month into the wedding preparations when Hikaru got two phone calls within the same day for two different wedding venues that he'd been interested in, both telling him that they had reservations open up for the two weeks that he'd requested. Hikaru was extremely excited about it, and he scheduled tours of the places for the following weekend, not wanting Kota to miss out on this aspect of the plans. It wasn't the tours that caused any argument; it was the decision that came afterwards.

The two venues were very different from each other. One place was a Christian church, a lovely white building with high ceilings and a long isle. There were plenty of benches and a minister—a nice foreign man with a thick accent—willing to do the ceremony. The other place was a beautiful, ancient, Shinto shrine, which although smaller, had an amazing garden surrounding it, everything elegant and balanced, and it offered a very traditional ceremony, with the sharing of sake. The problem was that while Hikaru was immediately drawn to the more traditional option at the Shinto shrine, Kota decided that he'd liked the Christian church better.

Kota liked the trendiness of the church. He liked how flashy it was with its high ceilings and stained glass windows, and he claimed that he liked how much more of a relaxed aura the building held. It felt to him much more like a place of celebration, and that was what a wedding was all about, wasn't it? A celebration of their love. They could hold the reception in the fancy hotel next to the church; it would be easy to rent out a ballroom. Besides, he declared, he would much rather wear a suit to their wedding than the traditional outfit. While Hikaru understood Kota's perspective, he wasn't completely swayed.

Hikaru had always assumed that he'd have a Japanese style wedding. He was a Japanese man, after all, and it was the family tradition. Besides, while the wedding was a_ celebration_ of their love, it was more than that. It was a serious thing. The wedding ceremony spoke of their lifelong promise of love and companionship, and that was a big deal. It was an eternal commitment that was not to be taken lightly. Not that he didn't want to celebrate, but it just didn't seem as real of a thing to him—more like playing make believe—if it was at the western church. Kota wasn't all too pleased when Hikaru informed him of his view on the matter.

It took them days to reach any sort of resolution. They debated fervently, neither one willing to back down, and it actually got to be a bit of a problem, as both venues were anxiously waiting for their decision, their time limited. It was frustrating for the both of them, and it took a great amount of energy, before they managed to settle on a compromise. They decided to have the wedding ceremony at the Shinto shrine, Hikaru in traditional garb, while Kota got to wear his suit. It would be attended just by close family members, and would be a very serious ceremony. However, afterwards they would have the reception, attended by all of their friends and extended family, in the hotel ballroom as Kota had proposed. The reception would be a big, boisterous party, a proper _celebration,_ like Kota had wanted, with a jazz band and food and dancing. It was the perfect combination.

Their whole winter was saturated with wedding preparation. Yet as they sat side by side on their bed, all wrapped up in the comforter because the heater broke, meticulously addressing what felt like hundreds of invitations, Hikaru felt a warm happiness in his chest, and he loved that he could just lean in ever so slightly, and get a sweet kiss from his handsome fiancé. This was amazing. This was the dream. And before he knew it Kota had graduated, and official documents were filled out, and then_ the day_ arrived. It was like his subconscious realized it before he did, a nervous buzzing in his stomach like bees the first thing he felt when he woke that morning.

He cracked jokes all morning, Kota humoring him as they each prepared individually for the ceremony. They left their apartment that morning in the same manner that they did everything else for the past ten years—together. Hikaru then fell silent, and Kota took his hand in the cab as they made their way to the shrine, and his gaze met Hikaru's, and some of the nervous energy drained away, a smile blooming on his lips. They pulled up to the shrine, and Kota climbed out first, offering Hikaru his hand, and he said

"Let's go get married." Hikaru felt his grin grow larger, and he took the hand, climbing out of the car, and he said

"Let's." And then, they did.

The ceremony and afterwards the reception were both amazing, their friends and family extremely supportive and happy, and it was an unforgettable night full of dancing, love and laughter. They spent their honeymoon in an amazing apartment on the other side of town that Hikaru immediately fell in love with, and it was revealed to him on the last night of their stay that Kota had taken the initiative to buy the place. They moved into their new home the week after, and Hikaru didn't think life could get better.

He was proven wrong when one evening in August Kota came home dripping wet from rain, a small bundle of brown fur in his arms. The puppy was tiny, probably only a few weeks old, and it was a mostly indistinct creature, its most defining feature these huge floppy ears that seemed disproportionately large in comparison to its head. Hikaru looked over at his husband questioningly, and Kota just said

"It was storming. I just couldn't leave her." They got to work taking care of the little creature, and drying it and feeding it, and as they worked Kota explained that he'd found it lying outside the train station under a bench, shivering silently. He proposed that they didn't actually have to keep the dog; they could just take it to a pet shop or try and find a new home for it. But as Hikaru scrubbed it dry, the little bundle blinking up at him, he shook his head.

"Let's keep her." Kota smiled, nodding. That night the three of them all curled up in bed together, the puppy cradled between their two larger bodies, and the dog—eventually named 'Mai'—completed their little family. And Hikaru couldn't help but feel in the weeks to come, that he must be the luckiest man in the world, to have been granted a happiness as big and perfect as this.


End file.
